Month: June 2016

Nouns : Singular & Plural



Nouns : Singular & Plural

There are a number of different rules when it comes to making nouns plural…

A noun that refers to a SINGLE object or person is SINGULAR in number. A noun which refers to MORE THAN one object or person is said to be PLURAL in number. The The plurals of nouns can be formed in a number of different ways.


1. A plural is most often formed by simply adding an ‘s’ at the end of the singular form of the noun:

eg. boy: boys, dog: dogs, tree: trees, etc.

This also works for nouns ending in ‘y’ but only where the letter before the ‘y’ is a vowel.

eg: boy: boys, day: days, turkey: turkeys, tray: trays.

2. If a noun ends in ‘s’,’sh’,’ch’or ‘x’, the plural is formed by adding ‘es’.

Eg: boxes, churches, thrushes, passes, etc.

3. If the noun ends in ‘y’ and the letter before the ‘y’ is a consonant then the plural is formed by changing the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ and adding’es’.

eg: berry: berries, cherry: cherries, bunny: bunnies, factory: factories, etc.

4. Sometimes, but not always, nouns that end in ‘f’ make their plurals by changing the ‘f’ to a ‘v’ then adding ‘-es’.

eg: leaf: leaves, loaf: loaves, half: halves, thief: thieves.

Continue reading “Nouns : Singular & Plural”

What’s the Correct Order for Multiple Adjectives?



When you list several adjectives in a row, there is a specific order in which they need to be written or spoken. Native speakers of English tend to put them in the correct order naturally so if it feels right it probably is right. In any case, it’s unlikely that this will hit a SPAG test any time soon.

I include this information for interest and because many, if not most, people will be unaware of the existence of any formal list of the order in which adjectives should appear when in a list before a noun. It doesn’t always ring true, either; the list says that observations/opinions should come before size but a native speaker might sometimes reverse this if it sounded better:

‘My dog has beautiful, big eyes,’

or

My dog has big, beautiful eyes,’

– you decide…

If you’re learning English, you’ll have to contend with memorising the order and it sometimes sounding awkward to a native speaker. For what it’s worth, here’s the list: Continue reading “What’s the Correct Order for Multiple Adjectives?”

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