10. With compound nouns, if they are made of two nouns – as they very frequently are –

a. only the last part takes the plural form, e.g.

Housemaid - housemaids

Shoemaker – shoemakers

Classroom – classrooms

Armchair – armchairs

Forget-me-not – forget-me-nots

N.B. There is one exception to this rule. If the first part of the word is man or woman, then both words take the plural form, e.g.

Manservant – menservants

b. if the compound noun is made with a preposition, then only the first part takes the plural form, e.g.

father-in-law - fathers-in-law

man-of-war - men-of-war

11. The following singular expressions usually have plural verbs:

A number of

A number of us are worried about it.

The majority of

The majority disagree.

A couple of

There are a couple of children outside.

A group of

A lot of + plural noun/pronoun

A lot of them were late.

The rest of + plural noun/pronoun

The rest of the members are ill.

12. Some plural expressions have singular verbs:

Latin, Greek and French plurals

a. Nouns with foreign plurals only

Latin, Greek and French plurals occur in a number of words borrowed from the languages concerned, though there is a strong tendency to make the plural of those words conform to the rule and to restrict the foreign plural to specialized uses in a scientific context.

-is analysis – analyses (анализ(ы);

Crisis – crises (кризис(ы)

Axis – axes (ось (и)

Thesis – theses (диссертация(и)

-on criterion – criteria (критерий(и);

phenomenon – phenomena (явление(я)

-um datum – data (данное (ые);

Stratum – strata (слой(и);

b. Nouns with both foreign and regular plurals

-us cactus – cacti /cactuses (кактус(ы);

genius – genii /geniuses (гений(и);

nucleus – nuclei (ядро(а)

radius – radii (радиус(ы)

stimulus – stimuli

bacillus

fungus

terminus

-a antenna – antennae /antennas (антенна(ы);

formula – formulae /formulas (формула(ы)

-ex/ix index – indices /indexes (индекс(ы);

appendix – appendices /appendixes (аппендикс(ы)

-um medium – media /mediums (способ, средство);

memorandum – memoranda /memorandums меморандум(ы)

Irregular in pronunciation only

The following are regular in spelling, but in pronunciation a final consonant that is voiceless in the singular becomes voiced in the plural:

a. nouns ending in –th. In bath, the final / / becomes / / in the plural, which is therefore pronounced / /. The same applies to mouth, oath, path, sheath, truth, wreath, youth (= young man), and also apply to berth and birth. It does not apply to nouns ending in –nth, eg months.

b. The voiceless /s/ in house becomes /z/ in the plural, /hauziz/.