What are the rules for the pluralization of nouns in English?

Answer 1

In spoken English, the regular rule for producing plurals is to add an /s/, /z/, or /ez/ sound to the end of the word. Which sound you add depends on what kind of sound the singular form ends in.

1. If the singular form ends in a voiceless sound, pluralise by adding an /s/ sound.

• pick /pik/ -> picks /piks/
• voiceless sounds: p, k, t, f, sh, ch

2. If the singular ends in a vowel or voiced consonant, pluralise by adding a /z/ sound.

• pig /pig/ -> pigs /pigz/
• fly /flai/ -> flies /flaiz/

3. If the singular already ends in an /s/, /z/ or similar sound, pluralise by adding /ez/.

• kiss /kis/ -> kisses /kisez/
• quiz /kwiz/ -> quizzes /kwizez/

In written English, regular plurals are formed in one of the following ways:

1. By adding -s to the end:

• pig -> pigs

2. By adding -es to the end when the word already ends in a sound that is similar to an s:

• kiss -> kisses
• buzz -> buzzes
• bush -> bushes
• branch -> branches
• fox -> foxes

3. When the word ends in -y, by replacing the -y with -ies:

• family -> families

4. In American English, if the word ends with a vowel followed by y, by applying rule #1 and not rule #3. British English uses rule #3 causing differences between American and British spelling such as phony and phoney becoming phonies and phoneys respectively. The acceptable plural of money is either moneys or monies.

There are also many irregular plurals in English:

1. Sometimes a consonant is changed when adding the -s or -es.

• leaf -> leaves.
• knife -> knives.

2. If the noun originates in German, French, Latin or Greek, occasionally pluralise according to the original language. So children, plateaux, formulae, appendices etc. Many of these words also have acceptable variants that obey the normal rules for forming the plural in English:

• formula -> formulae/formulas
• appendix -> appendices/appendixes
• bureau -> bureaux/bureaus

3. If you decide to pluralise according to the original language, avoid linguistic horrors things like "oktopodes" (and, by proxy, the singular "oktopos") and "hippoipotamodes". Octopuses and hippopotamuses are simpler. Also, kindly avoid horrible misconceptions like "octopi" which derive from people's assumption that the noun is Latin when it is, in fact, Greek. Most Italian loanwords use the -s rule, such as pianos.

4. Some plurals involve a vowel change ("umlaut" plurals):

• man -> men
• mouse -> mice
• foot -> feet

5. Some words have the same form in the singular and plural:

• sheep -> sheep
• fish -> fish/fishes