1. The formation of the plural of nouns
| General rule: add 's' to the singular |
boy-boys; girl-girls; house-houses; tree-trees |
| If the noun ends in 's, ss, x, sh or ch', add 'es' |
bus-buses; loss-losses; box-boxes; bush-bushes; match-matches |
| If the noun ends in 'y' preceded by a consonant, change 'y' to 'ies' |
daisy-daisies; lady-ladies; country-countries |
| But if the noun ends in 'y' prededed by a vowel, add 's' only |
monkey-monkeys; ray-rays; boy-boys |
| If the noun ends in 'o' preceded by a consonant, add 'es' |
hero-heroes; potato-potatoes; tomato-tomatoes there are exceptions, however: piano-pianos |
| If the noun ends in 'f' or 'fe', change to 'ves' |
wife-wives; life-lives; knife-knives; thief-thieves. Exceptions: roofs, proofs etc. |
| Nouns with irregular plurals |
man-men; woman-women; tooth-teeth; foot-feet, goose-geese; mouse-mice; louse-lice; child-children, ox-oxen |
| Some nouns have the same form for both singular and plural |
deer, sheep, fish, dozen, score etc. |
| Some nouns have no singular form |
annals, gallows, means, news, pliers, scissors, statistics, tidings, trousers etc. |
| To form the plural of compound nouns, make the chief word plural |
sons-in-law; fathers-in-law; step-sons; couts-martial |
| Some common foreign words and their plural are these |
formula-formulae; radius-radii; index-indices, crisis-crises; basis-bases; phenomenon-phenomena |
| 2. The doubling of the final consonant before a suffix: |
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| In words of one syllable, the final consonant is doubled before a suffix if the vowel before
the consonant is short: |
bet-betting; bed-bedded; bar-bared; stop-stopped; run-running etc. But: eat-eating (vowel is long) |
| In words of more than one syllable, the final consonant is doubled if the accent on the last syllable and if the last syllable contains a short vowel. |
begin-beginning; refer-referred; occur-occurred; deter-deterred; transfer-transferred; forget-forgettable.
But: appear-appearing; maintain-maintained (accent not on the last syllable or long vowel in the last syllable) |
| In words ending in 'l', the 'l' is doubled before a suffix if it is preceded by a short vowel; if it is preceded by a long vowel, it remains single. |
travel-travelled; dispel-dispelling; wool-woollen. But: feel-feeling |
| 3. The omission of final 'e' before a suffix |
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| Generally a final 'c' is retained before a suffix beginning with a consonant and is dropped before a suffix beginning with a vowel: |
come-coming; but: comely; name-naming; but: nameless; love-lovable; but: lovely
Exceptions: due-duly; true-truly; whole-wholly; nine-ninth; dye-dyeing; argue-argument. |
| After 'c' and 'g' an 'e' is retained before 'a' and 'o' (but not before 'i'): |
advantage-advantageous; change-changeable, but: changing. |
| 4. 'i' before 'e' except after 'c' |
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| The old rule that 'i' comes before 'e' after 'c' applies only when the two vowels are pronounced as 'ee': |
chief; believe; siege. But: ceiling, perceive, receipt |
| 5. When 'our' becomes 'or' before a suffix |
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| The noun-ending 'our' becomes 'or' before the endings 'ous', 'ate', and 'ist': |
humour-humorous-humorist; vigour-vigorous-invigorate; labour-laborious |
| There are some other words that drop a vowel or change a vowel before a suffix: |
maintain-maintenance; pronounce-pronunciation; sustain-sustenance; explain-explanation; repeat-repetiton; curious-curiosity |
| 6. The endings 'ise' and 'ize' |
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The easiest way to deal with words ending in 'ise' and 'ize' is to use the ending 'ise' for all words;
this is a well-established modern practice. However, a list of certain verbs requiring 'ise' is given here, followed by a list that may end in 'ize' |
'-ise'
advertise, advise, comprise, despise, devise, disguise, emphasise, enterprise, exercise, revise, supervise, surprise
'-ize'
baptize, civilize, criticize, memorize, modernize, organize, realize, recognize, subsidize, sympathize, visualize
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| 7. Single 'l' and double 'l' |
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| The suffix meaning 'full of' is 'ful' (single 'l'): |
beautiful, plentiful, wonderful, grateful, hateful etc. |
| When a monosyllable ending in 'll' has another word added to it, one 'l' is usually dropped: |
all:already, always, altogether
full: fulfil
skill: skilful
well: welcome
will: wilful |
| When the suffix 'ness' is added, both 'l's' are retained: |
dullness, stillness, illness |
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Note the spelling 'all right' (there is no such word as 'allright' or 'alright') |
| 8. Difficulties involving 'y' |
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| When 'ing' is added to words ending in 'ie', 'ie' becomes 'y': |
die-dying; lie-lying; tie-tying |
| When 's' is added to nouns and verbs ending in 'y' preceded by a consonant, 'y' becomes 'ie': |
city-cities; country-countries; modify-modifies |
| But when the final 'y' is preceded by a vowel, an 's' is simply added: |
monkey-monkeys; valley-valleys; buy-buys |
| When a suffix to a word ending in 'y' preceded by a consonant is added, 'y' becomes 'i': |
happy-happier, happiest, happiness, happily; deny-denies, denied, denial
Exceptions: shy-shyness, shyly; dry-dryness |
| When a final 'y' is preceded by a vowel, it is not changed before a suffix: |
survey-surveyed, surveyor; dismay-dismayed
Exceptions: pay-paid; lay-laid |
