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QQ.4 Form regular plural nouns with -s, -es, and -ies

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What are nouns?

Nouns are words that name people, places, animals, or things.

Examples:
  • person → teacher
  • place → school
  • animal → dog
  • thing → book
Note

If you can name it, it is probably a noun.

What are plural nouns?

A plural noun shows more than one person, place, animal, or thing.

Examples:
  • one cat → two cats
  • one pencil → three pencils
  • one student → many students
Note

Plural nouns usually tell how many there are.

Forming plural nouns with -s

Add -s to most nouns to make them plural.

Examples:
  • dog → dogs
  • tree → trees
  • book → books
Note

If a noun does not end in a special letter sound, adding -s usually works.

Forming plural nouns with -es

Add -es to nouns that end in s, x, z, ch, or sh.

Examples:
  • bus → buses
  • box → boxes
  • dish → dishes
  • watch → watches
Note

These words need an extra syllable sound, so we add -es.

Forming plural nouns with -ies

If a noun ends with a consonant followed by y, change the y to i and add -es.

Examples:
  • baby → babies
  • city → cities
  • party → parties
Note

If the noun ends in a vowel and y, just add -s (toy → toys).

Using plural nouns in sentences

Plural nouns help make sentences clear by showing more than one.

Examples:
  • The dogs are playing outside.
  • She packed three boxes.
  • The babies are sleeping.
Note

Make sure verbs match plural nouns (dogs are, not dogs is).