Compounds
With nouns |
without nouns (or disguised) |
with ‘man, woman’or ‘and’ |
courts-martial (трибунал), poets laureate, men-of-war, sons-in-law, tugs of war (перетягивания каната), runners-up (участники) But: brigadier-generals, lieutenant-colonels, sergeant-majors |
forget-me-nots, ne’er-do-wells, never-was – never-weres (неудачник) |
women doctors, gentlemen ushers, menservants |
pullovers, setups, handfuls, spoonfuls, |
pros and cons, ups and downs |
Unchanged
Both singular and plural |
Only plural |
Only singular |
craft, aircraft, biceps, congeries (масса, куча), forceps, innings (подача, уборка урожая, период у власти) means, mews, series, species, superficies (территория, владения на чужой земле), triceps |
goods, people, headquarters, barracks, earnings per share, valuables, clothes, trousers, pants, premises, outskirts, works (завод), crossroads, refreshments, surroundings, belongings, scissors, binoculars, sales, overseas, savings, braces (подтяжки) |
news, politics, economics, statistics, mathematics, linguistics, optics, physics, rabbles (бешенство) Proper: Naples, Athens, Algiers, Brussels, Flanders, Marseilles, Wales |
Uncountables: accommodation, advice, baggage, luggage, behaviour, bread, equipment, cash, chaos, equipment, furniture, information, knowledge, luck, mail, money, progress, scenery, strength, success, research, traffic, travel (vs. a journey), work (vs. a job), homework (vs., task, assignment), weather (vs. day), kudos (честь и слава, почет), bona-fides (добросовестность).
Groups and Organizations seen as a collective unit are singular and as a number of people are plural (in BrE): bank, committee, company, club, family, fire brigade, firm, government, management, media, personnel, police, public, staff, team, union, youth, cattle.
Different Meanings: time время – a time раз, custom обычай – customs таможня, damage повреждения – damages убытки, pain боль – pains усилия, people люди– a people народ, quarter четверть – quarters жилье, work работа – works завод, colour цвет – colours знамя, iron железо – irons оковы, a yellow желток, whys – причины, unknowns – неизвестные, six-year-olds шестилетки, arm рука – arms оружие.
Irregular foreign plurals
|
|
- a → -ae /i:/ |
formula, antenna (энтомол.), nebula (туманность), alga (водоросль), larva (личинка), lamina (пластинка), papilla, amoeba, vertebra, alumna |
-um → -a /ə/ |
datum, stratum, memorandum, curriculum, addendum, consortium, stratum, bacterium, forum, candelabrum, compendium (конспект), corrigendum (опечатка), cranium (череп), crematorium, desideratum (недостающее), dictum (афоризм), effluvium, emporium (испарение, эманация), epithalamium (свадебная песнь), erratum, maximum, minimum, quantum, scholium (комментарий), spectrum, speculum (отражатель), medium, rostrum (кафедра), referendum, symposium |
Plural |
bacteria, data, criteria, phenomena, media, graffitti, insignia (знаки отличия), regalia, strata |
-us → -i pronounced /ai/ |
alumnus, apparatus, stimulus, nucleus, papyrus, radius, terminus, syllabus, focus, bacillus, locus, cactus, fungus, bronchus, calculus, gladiolus, narcissus, genius (добрый дух) magus – magi (волхвы); hippopotamus - hippopotamuses/hippopotami, uterus - uteri/uteruses [terminuses, cactuses and radiuses are also used] |
-us - -era /ərə/ |
corpus – corpora, opus – opera, genus – genera, viscus – viscera (body organs) |
-ex, ix → -ices |
matrix, appendix, radix (мат.), cortex (кора анат.), calix (чаша церк.), helix (спираль), vortex (вихрь), codex (рукопись), apex (верхушка), spadix – spadices (flower type), fornix – fornices (свод мозга), vertex - vertices |
-s unchanged |
chamois (серна, замша), chassis, corps [ko: - ko:z] (корпус), faux pas (ложный шаг), fracas [-α: - αz] (скандал), patois (диалект) |
-is → -es /i:z/ |
analysis, crisis, basis, thesis, parenthesis, diagnosis, oasis, synopsis, ellipsis, axis, hypothesis, metamorphosis, amanuensis (переписчик), neurosis, testis |
-on → -a |
criterion, phenomenon, ganglion (энтомол), automaton, parhelion (ложное солнце) entozoon (entozoan) – entozoan (animal parasite), polyhedron |
-eau → eaux |
beau, bureau, chateau, milieu (окруж. среда), plateau, tableau, adieu, portmanteau, trousseau, gateau, chateau |
-o → i |
concerto grosso, solo, graffito, maestro, virtuoso, ripieno, tempo, libretto, soprano, paparazzo - paparazzi |
- → -im |
cherub – cherubim, seraph – seraphim, kibbutz – kibbutzim, midrash (Biblical commentaries) – midrashim, moshav – moshavim (settlement, village), matzah - matzot/matzahs |
Notes:
The plural ending -a, occurs in agenda and data, though agenda is generally accepted as a count noun, singular, as in: Is there an agenda for the meeting?
Data is used both as mass noun and as count noun plural: The results of the experiment are still uncertain: there aren’t enough data yet.
Indexes is used to refer to lists at the end of books, and matrixes is used with reference to gramophone records.
Final ma in nouns of Greek origin can add -ta, although -s is usually also acceptable, and in many cases more common: stigma - stigmata/stigmas, stoma - stomata/stomas,schema - schemata/schemas, dogma - dogmata/dogmas, lemma - lemmata/lemmas.
In Canada and Alaska, some words borrowed from Inuktitut retain traditional plurals: Inuk – Inuit, inukshuk – inukshuit.