Plural Nouns

Chris:	Last year, I went to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. to see one of the original copies of the Declaration of Independence. I have to admit I almost cried.
Emily:	The same thing happened to me at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration was signed by 56 very brave men in 1776.
Chris:	Yeah, if the American Revolution had failed, the signers of the Declaration would have been hunted down and executed for high treason.
Emily:	Is that why John Dickinson, one of the delegates from Pennsylvania, did not sign the Declaration?
Chris:	Actually, Emily, don’t judge a book by its cover. John Dickinson has been frequently portrayed as one of the biggest cowards in American history, but he was indeed a patriot. He simply made the point that the war with England might be hard to win for the 13 colonies. He warned the delegates that they were daring to “brave the storm in a skiff made out of paper.”
Emily:	Standing by your convictions in the face of massive disapproval from almost all men, women, and children in the colonies is a very brave act indeed.
Chris:	What I don’t understand is why we celebrate our independence from Britain and the birth of our nation on July 4th? Why don’t we celebrate on the day the Revolutionary War started with the battle of Lexington, in the state of Massachusetts, in 1775, with the famous “shot heard around the world”? We could have chosen to celebrate on July 2nd when 12 of the 13 colonies voted in favor of the Declaration that Thomas Jefferson wrote.
Emily:	Well, it was signed on the 4th.
Chris:	No, it wasn’t. The Declaration was actually signed almost a month later.
Emily:	Ok, but the final text of the Declaration was approved by Congress on July 4th. Hence, this is the day when all Americans take their wives, husbands and children outside to celebrate. They have their BBQs in the great outdoors with their families, salute their flags and watch fireworks at night.
Chris:	My neighbors hunt moose, deer and geese in Alaska every year on July 4th. That is just not me. I typically have a party at my house and read the entire Declaration to all my guests. It’s one of the best pieces of writing in American history, and in the world, in my opinion.
Emily:	You know, actually, I don’t like the beginning of the Declaration. I think it should have started with the second paragraph. “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Chris:	Those words were the true revolution. Granted, women and slaves were not included in what was meant by these words, but they are revolutionary nonetheless.
Emily:	Also noteworthy is that Thomas Jefferson took these most important words in the Declaration almost verbatim from the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written mostly by George Mason. That’s why he is one of my favorite founding fathers.
Chris:	Is that true?
Emily:	Yes.
Chris:	Also, I find it sort of eerie that founding fathers Jefferson and John Adams both died exactly 50 years after the date of their biggest achievement in life, on July 4th, 1826.
Emily:	It is. In spite of this spooky coincidence, though, the Declaration of Independence, with its Declaration of Rights became a beacon of light and freedom to all other countries and people in the world and gave our nation something to strive for.

Plural Nouns

In this lesson, we will learn how to form plural nouns. A singular noun is just one of something, but the plural form is used when there are two or more of the noun.

I have a car. I have one car. Our family has two cars. We have this specific number of cars. My business owns many cars. My business owns more than two cars.

I. Regular Plural Forms

To make the plural form of most nouns, simply add an s to the end of the noun.

hat – hats chair – chairs table – tables desk – desks dog – dogs

For nouns that end in /s/, /x/, /z/, /ch/, or /sh/ sounds, add es.

bus – buses fox – foxes quiz – quizzes watch – watches brush – brushes

For nouns ending in ‘f’ or ‘fe’, change ‘f’ to ‘v’ and add es. However, for nouns ending in ‘ff’, simply add s.

elf – elves wife – wives shelf – shelves leaf – leaves cliff – cliffs

Nouns that end in consonant followed by a ‘y’, drop the ‘y’ and add ies. For nouns ending in a vowel and a ‘y’, just add s.

baby – babies spy – spies city – cities alley – alleys essay – essays

II. Irregular Plural Forms

Many nouns do not follow the above rules and have unique plural forms.

child – children woman – women man – men toy – toys mouse – mice goose – geese kidney – kidneys potato – potatoes

Other nouns have the same singular and plural forms.

sheep – sheep aircraft – aircraft moose – moose deer – deer species – species series – series

Plural Nouns

Type the correct plural form of each noun in the box.

Plural Nouns

For each example, one plural form is correct and another is incorrect. Type the correct plural form in the box.