Singular and plural nouns in English
See also:
English grammar guide (all about English grammar)
Exercises + PDF worksheets (online exercises and PDF to download)
English nouns (more about English nouns)
Grammar rules with examples
- We normally make the plural by adding -s to the and of a noun. There are, however, a lot of exceptions to this rule. Have a look at a few examples:
window - windows
boss - bosses
baby - babies
potato - potatoes
knife - knives
datum - data
mother-in-law - mothers-in-law
Singular and plural with different meanings 1
Singular and plural with different meanings 2
- Different plural forms can sometimes have different meanings:
indexes = tables of contents
indices = collections of information in alphabetical order
brothers = siblings
brethren = members of the same comunity
- Some singular forms can have different meanings than plural forms:
arm = part of human body
arms = weapons
content = amount of a substance
contents = everything that is contained within something
wood = material
woods = small forest
force - strength
forces - armed men
Singular only 1 + Singular only 2
- Some nouns are only used in a singular form and the plural does not exist:
information, happines, damage, homework, advice, mathematics, fireworks...
- Other nouns are only used in a plural form and the singular does not exist:
clothes, scissors, headphones, earnings, outskirts, belongings...
Irregular plural 1 + Irregular plural 2
- Most plural nouns are formed by -s ending. There are, however, a lot of English nouns that have irregular plural forms:
life - lives, syllabus - syllabi, hero - heroes, crisis - crises, bacterium - bacteria, foot - feet...
Video
- A 14-minute video by a British teacher explaining the difference between singular and plural nouns (for intemediate learners of English).