Plural Forms of Nouns
The answer is a relatively easy one, as grammar goes. A plural noun is a word that indicates that there is more than one person, animal place, thing, or idea. When you talk about more than one of anything, you’re using plural nouns. When you write about more than one of anything, you usually use the same word, simply adding an s, es, or ies to the end. There are a few exceptions to this rule, but not many – one of the best is that a single moose is a moose, and a group of moose are still moose.
The difference between singular and plural nouns is simple once you know what to look for. Here, we take a look at singular and plural nouns, providing both singular nouns examples and plural noun examples to help you recognize plural nouns when you see them.
Examples of Plurals of Nouns
Most nouns make their plurals by simply adding –s to the end (e.g. cat/cats, book/books, journey/journeys). Some do change their endings, though. The main types of noun that do this are:
Nouns ending in -y
If the noun ends with a consonant plus -y, make the plural by changing -y to -ies:
| Singular | Plural |
| berry | berries |
| activity | activities |
| daisy | daisies |
If the noun ends with -ch, -s, -sh, -x, or -z, add -es to form the plural:
| Singular | Plural |
| church | churches |
| bus | buses |
| fox | foxes |
There’s one exception to this rule. If the -ch ending is pronounced with a ‘k’ sound, you add -s rather than -es:
| Singular | Plural |
| stomach | stomachs |
| epoch | epochs |
