Plural Nouns

Forming The Plural

When	singular	plural	change
in most cases	daughter girl tree photo	daughters girls trees photos	add -s
the word ends i -s -sh -ch -x -o (not always)	class brush watch box potato	classes brushes watches boxes potatoes	add -es
the word ends in "consonant+y" if there is a vowel before "y", only add -s	family city country key play	families cities countries keys plays	"y" becomes "i" and add -es
the word ends in -f or -fe exceptions of this rule, when we only add -s: cliff, chief, cuff, roof	thief wife knife	thieves wives knives	-f/fe becomes -ves
irregular forms	man woman child person tooth foot goose ox mouse penny	men women children people teeth feet geese oxen mice pence
some words of Greek or Latin origin	crisis bacterium formula	crises bacteria formulae	they keep their original plural forms

Special cases

Nouns, which:
1. do not have a plural form. These are uncountable nouns.

2. are always in the plural (have no singular form)
- things, that are comprised of two parts: jeans, knickers, panties, pants, pyjamas, shorts, tights, trousers, and underpants; pincers, pliers, scissors, shears, tongs; sneakers; glasses (spectacles), binoculars.
These trousers are not mine.
Pliers are a handy tool.
My garden shears trim the hedge very well.
My glasses are used only for reading.
To count them, we use "a pair of":
That's a nice pair of trousers.
I need a new pair of stainless steel scissors.
Have you brought only 2 pairs of socks on a two-week trip?
- which denote a group of objects, animals or people: annals (pages of books of history), archives, arms (weapons), ashes (of a dead cremated body), bowels, brains (intellect), clothes, contents, customs (duty), earnings, fireworks, funds (money), genitals, goods, guts (bowels, courage), looks (appearance)(e.g. She has got attractive looks), manners (in the expression ‘good manners’), odds (in the expression ‘heavy odds’), outskirts, pains (e.g. to take pains), premises (building), remains, riches (wealth), stairs (e.g. a flight of stairs), surroundings(environment), thanks, troops, tropics (тропици), valuables, wages, proceeds, tidings, nuptials, drawers
Earnings in the agricultural sector have increased by 5% in the fourth quarter.
- which look like a singular forms but are always used in the plural: police, cattle
The police are here.

3. look like plural but are actually singular:
- ending in : athletics, economics, gymnastics, linguistics, mathematics, mechanics, numismatics, physics, politics and pyrotechnics
Economics was my favourite subject at school.
Mathematics was never easy for Tom.
- illnesses such as mumps, measles, etc.:
An infectious illness, mumps was common among children.
- sizes, amounts etc., which are considered one unit:
One hundred years is a century.
Ten kilometres is a long distance.
Twenty dollars is not enough to buy a good shirt.
Seven days in prison is all he got for shoplifting.
- others: news, dominoes, billiards, darts
The good news is that we have all been invited.
Billiards is a game which connects mathematics and football.

4. have the same singular and plural form
- examples: bison, buffalo, craft, deer, duck, fish, moose, pike, plankton, salmon, sheep, squids, wine, trout

- end in -s:

series	A series of burglaries has been going on around the neighbourhood.	What are your favourite TV series?
species	A new species of bird has been discovered in Indonesia recently.	Since the 17th century, more than 500 marine species have become extinct in the US.
means	The bicycle is a means of transport.	The five human senses are our means of communication with the material world.

More examples:: barracks, crossroads, headquarters, means, series, species, works (= factory), Swiss

- others are the so called collective nouns, which, despite the fact they have a plural form, sometimes in the singular can be seen either as a whole or as a collective of individuals. In the first case it is seen as singular, and in the second case, as plural. For example:

family	My family is big.	His family were against his plans.
audience	The audience (as a whole, it) was captivated by the performance.	This channel's target audience (the people who are targeted, they) are young adults.
team	Our team (it) is playing today.	The team (they, the people on the team) arrived home today.

More examples for this: board, committee, community, crew, crowd, government, group, jury, staff.