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[F-E] Plural Nouns

LET'S READ! 📖

Direction: Read the short paragraph then answer the questions being asked.

SOFTBALL BATTER


Becky is the pitcher of her softball team. She is friends with the other players on the team. Olivia, the catcher, lives on Mockinbird Lane, which is our street. The shortstop, Mikayla, lives around the corner. Becky, Olivia, and Mikayla practice pitching and catching balls after school. They want to beat the other teams in the Southwest Soccer League and win at least two trophies this year.

QUESTIONS:

1. Who is the catcher of the softball team?

2. When do Becky, Olivia and Mikayla practice pitching and catching balls?

3. How many trophies do they want to win this year?

LET'S UNDERSTAND! 📚

1. There are countable and uncountable nouns.


In the plural we usually add -s.

    Example:

  • banana - bananas

  • cat - cats

  • garden - gardens

If the word ends in -s, -ch, -sh, and -x, we add -es.

    Example:

  • dress - dresses

  • sandwich - sandwiches

  • wish - wishes

  • box - boxes

Many words ending -f(e) end in -ves in the plural.

    Example:

  • knife - knives

  • loaf - loaves

  • wife - wives

If the word ends in consonant + -y, we change the -y to -ie.

    Example:

  • story - stories

  • city - cities

But if the word ends in vowel + -y, we just add -s.

    Example:

  • day - days

  • monkey - monkeys

Some words ending in -o take -s, but some take -es.

    Example:

  • piano - pianos

  • photo - photos

  • potato - potatoes

  • tomato - tomatoes

2. Some common nouns have special plurals.

    Example:

  • child - children

  • fish - fish

  • foot - feet

  • man - men

  • mouse - mice

  • person - people

  • sheep - sheep

  • tooth - teeth

  • woman - women

3. Some nouns only have a plural form, we never use them without an -s.

    Example:

  • glasses

  • jeans

  • pajamas

  • scissors

  • trousers


  • There are some glasses on the table.

  • There is a pair of glasses on the table.

4. Some nouns look singular but we use them like plural nouns.

    Example:

  • staff

  • police


  • How many staff work in this school?

  • The police are here.

5. Some nouns which refer to groups of people can be singular or plural.

    Example:

  • team

  • family

  • company


  • Her family lives / live in Japan.

LET'S PRACTICE! 📝

Direction: Choose five words from the list. Change them to their plural forms and use them in sentences.

puppy choice
life holiday
volcano thief
hero man
lady leaf
dish culture

    Example:

  • glass → glasses

    • - My mother was angry because my sister broke two glasses last night.