§ 5. The category of number.

English countable nouns have two numbers —the singular and the plural.

1. The general rule for forming the plural of English nouns is by adding the ending -s to the singular; -s is pronounced in different ways:

[z] after voiced consonants and after vowels: flowers, beds, doves, bees, boys.

[s] after voiceless consonants: caps, books, hats, cliffs.

2. If the noun ends in -s, -ss, -x, -sh, -ch, or -tch, the plural is formed by adding -es to the singular:

bus — buses; box — boxes; bench — benches; glass— glasses; brush — brushes;

match — matches

3. If the noun ends in -o preceded by a consonant, the plural is generally formed by adding -es.

cargo — cargoes; hero — heroes; potato — potatoes; echo — echoes;

but: piano—pianos; solo — solos; photo — photos

All nouns ending in -о preceded by a vowel form the plural in -s and not in -es.

cuckoo — cuckoos; portfolio — portfolios; video–videos; radio–radios.

There are a few nouns ending in -o which form the plural both in -s and -es:

mosquito— mosquitos or mosquitoes

4. If the noun ends in -y preceded by a consonant, у is changed into i before -es.

fly — flies; army — armies; lady — ladies.

In proper names, however, the plural is formed by adding the ending -s to the singular: Mary– Marys.

Note.— If the final -y is preceded .by a vowel the plural is formed by simply adding -s to the singular.

day —days; monkey— monkeys; toy — toys; key —keys; boy —boys

5. The following nouns ending in -f (in some cases followed by a mute e) change it into v (both in spelling and pronunciation) in the plural:

wife — wives; thief— thieves; knife — knives; calf— calves; life— lives; half— halves; sheaf— sheaves; shelf— shelves; leaf— leaves; wolf— wolves.

But: roof –roofs; chief–chiefs; handkerchief–handkerchief; proof–proofs.

There are some nouns ending in -f which have two forms in the plural:

scarf — scarfs or scarves wharf— wharfs or wharves

6. The plural forms of some nouns are survivals of earlier formations. There are seven nouns which form the plural by changing the root vowel:

man — men; goose — geese; woman —women; mouse —mice; foot —feet; louse —lice; tooth — teeth.

7. There are two nouns which form the plural in -en:

ox — oxen; child — children

8. In some nouns the plural form does not differ from the singular:

deer, sheep, swine, fish, trout, salmon, aircraft.

8. Some words borrowed from Latin or Greek keep their Latin or Greek plural forms: e. g. phenomenon –phenomena; datum –data; crisis –crises; stimulus –stimuli; formula– formulae; index– indices.

Some of these nouns have acquired English plural forms: memorandums, formulas, indexes, terminuses, etc.

The tendency to use the foreign plural is still strong in the technical language of science, but in fiction and colloquial English there is an evident inclination to give to certain words the regular English plural forms in -s. Thus in some cases two plural forms are preserved (formulae, formulas; antennae, antennas).

9. In compound nouns the plural is formed in different ways. As a rule a compound noun forms the plural by adding -s to the head-word:

editor-in-chief — editors-in-chief; brother-in-law — brothers-in-law; looker-on — lookers-on.

In some compound nouns the final element takes the plural form:

lady-bird — lady-birds

If there is no noun-stem in the compound, -s is added to the last element:

forget-me-not --forget-me-nots у; merry-go-round — merry-go-rounds

If the compound begins with the words man/woman both words are plural:

Man-servant–men-servants; woman-doctor–women-doctors.

10. Some nouns in English have only the plural form:

a) Trousers, spectacles, breeches, scissors, tongs, fetters, scales. These are for the most part names of things which consist of two or more parts.

b) Billiards, barracks, works. These nouns may be treated as singulars. We may say; a chemical works, a barracks, etc.

c) Words like phonetics, physics, politics, optics, etc. are usually treated as singulars except in some special cases.

d) The word news is treated as a singular. There is no news for her.

! Remember the words that are singular in Russian but plural in English:

Wages, contents, clothes, arms, stairs, riches, goods, potatoes, oats.

! The noun vacation is used in singular in English, and it is plural in Russian.

! The nouns gate, sledge, watch, clock are used both in the singular and in the plural, in Russian they are only plural.