2. Irregular plurals

a .Some nouns ending in –f / -fe drop the –f / -fe and add –ves in the plural e.g. half, thief, leaf, loaf, self, shelf, wolf, knife, wife, life.	half thief leaf knife wife life	halves thieves leaves knives wives lives
b. Some nouns form the plural by changing their vowel(s) The plural of mouse is mice	mouse	mice
c. A few nouns form the plural with -en	child ox	children oxen
d. Some nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural	sheep deer fish aircraft hovercraft spacecraft series species	sheep deer fish* aircraft hovercraft spacecraft series species
e. Some nouns borrowed from Greek and Latin have Greek or Latin plural endings.	crisis phenomenon cactus	crises phenomena cacti
f. The usual plural of person is people (not persons)	person	people

* fish is the normal plural of fish;

fishes is also possible, but less usual

Use

1. Normally, we use singular nouns with singular verbs and pronouns, and plural nouns with plural verbs and pronouns.

‘Where’s the key?’ ‘It’s on the table’

‘Where are the keys?’ ‘They’re on the table’.

2. With group nouns e.g. family, team, group, crowd, class, company, government.

We can use singular or plural verbs and pronouns:

1. We use plural verbs and pronouns when we think of these groups as a number of people.

My family are(is)holiday.

The government think(s) about solving the problem.

2. We use singular verbs and pronouns when we think of the group as an impersonal unit.

The family is a very important part of society.

3. We always use plural words with the nouns people (the) police and cattle.

People are strange, aren’t they?

The police in Britain wear blue uniforms.

4. We use plural nouns, verbs and pronouns with a number of and a group of.

A number of my friends are planning a holiday together.

They hope to go to Greece and Turkey.

5. After expressions with one of my/his/her etc. we use a plural noun and a singular verbs.

One of my friends is coming to see me.

6. When we talk about an amount or a quantity, we often use singular verbs and pronouns with plural nouns.

Ten thousand pounds is a lot of money.

‘The nearest town is five kilometres from here’. ‘That isn’t very far’.

7. Some nouns have only a plural form e.g. trousers, jeans, pajamas, shorts, tights, glasses, scissors.

Those jeans are very old.

There are some scissors in the kitchen.

We can also use a singular verb a pair of with these nouns.

There is a pair of scissors in the kitchen.

8. Some nouns end in –s, but are not plural e.g. news, politics, mathematics, physics, economics, athletics, billiards, rabies.

The news is depressing.

Mathematics is an interesting subject.

9. Uncountable nouns, the names of thing which we cannot count, e.g. milk, money, normally have no plural form.

• There is some milk in the fridge.

• Money isn’t the most important thing in life, is it?