§ 6. The category of number.

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

The main types of the plural forms of English nouns are as follows: .

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

. [iz] after sibilants: noses, horses, bridges.

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

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

¹ On the use of articles with abstract nouns see Chapter II, § 8, 9, 10, 11.

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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 -y preceded by a consonant, */ is changed into / before -es.

fly —flies _v

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

play —plays toy —toys

key — keys boy — boys

4. If the noun ends in -o preceded by a consonant, the plural is generally formed by adding -es. Only a few nouns ending in -o preceded by a consonant form the plural in -s.

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

but: piano —pianos solo — solos photo — photos

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

cuckoo — cuckoos portfolio — portfolios

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

mosquito — mosquitos or mosquitoes

5. With certain nouns the final voiceless consonants are changed into the corresponding voiced consonants when the noun takes the plural form.

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

wife —wives knife —knives life — lives sheaf — sheaves leaf — leaves

thief —thieves calf — calves half —halves shelf — shelves wolf —wolves

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

scarf — scarfs or scarves wharf —wharfs or wharves

(b) Nouns ending in -th [6] after long vowels change it' into [3] in pronunciation (which does not affect their spelling).

bath [ba:6]-baths [ba:9z] path [pa:6] — paths [pcr.dz] oath [ouS] — oaths [ou3z]

But [9] is always retained after consonants (including r) and short vowels:

smith —smiths [smiOs] month — months [nwiSs] myth — myths [mi8s] birth —births [ba:6s] health—healths [hel6s]

(c) One noun ending in [s] changes it into [z] (in pronunciation):

house [haus] — houses ['hauziz]

II. The plural forms of some nouns are survivals of earlier formations.

1. There are seven nouns which form the plural by changing the root vowel:

man — men woman — women foot — feet tooth — teeth

goose —geese mouse — mice louse — lice

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

ox — oxen child — children

Note. — The noun brother has, beside its usual plural form brothers, another plural form brethren, which is hardly ever used in colloquial language. It belongs to the elevated style and denotes people of the same creed and not relationship.

The noun .cow has, beside its usual plural form cows, a plural kine, which sometimes occurs in poetry.

3. In some nouns the plural form does not differ from the sin­gular: deer, sheep, swine, fish, trout.

III. 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).

IV. In compound nouns the plural is formed in different ways.

1. 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

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

• lady-bird — lady-birds

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

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

V. Some nouns have only the plural form:

1. Trousers, spectacles, breeches, scissors, tongs, fetters. These are for the most part names of things which imply plurality or consist of two or more parts.

2. Billiards, barracks, works. These nouns may be treated as singulars. We may say: a chemical works, a barracks, etc.

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

It was not practical politics! (Galsworthy)

All party politics are top dressing. (Galsworthy)

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4. The word news is treated- as a singular.

. When she goes to make little purchases, there is no news for her. (Thackeray)

The news he gave them was to be read in the lamentations. (Sabatini) ■