NOUNS

Level I

 

Grouping Nouns.  Nouns name persons, places, things, qualities, concepts, and activities. Here are four ways to group nouns:

 

                Concrete Nouns               Abstract Nouns

                water                               loyalty

                tangerine                         aspiration

                telephone                         ethics

 

                Common Nouns               Proper Nouns

                roller coaster                   The Giant Dipper

                dog                                  German shepherd

                printer                              Hewlett-Packard

 

                       

 

Forming Plural Nouns.  Plural nouns name two or more things. Most plural nouns (regular nouns) form the plural with the addition of s or es.

 

                Add s

 

                        office, offices           boat, boats

                        Harper, Harpers       Avila, Avilas*

 

                Add es to nouns ending in s, x, z, ch, or sh

 

                        loss, losses             bench, benches

                        fax, faxes                 Lopez, Lopezes*

 

*Most proper nouns are made plural just as common nouns are.

A few plural nouns change form:

 

                man, men                 foot, feet

                mouse, mice            child, children

 

Try Your Skill

 

How would you make these nouns plural?

 

house                              Sanchez

tax                                   workman

Bush                                coin

woman                             virus

mouse                              Guffey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KEY: houses, taxes, Bushes, women, mice [but computer mouses], Sanchezes, workmen, coins, viruses, Guffeys

 

 

Level II

 

SPELLING TROUBLESOME NOUN PLURALS

 

        Nouns Ending in y

                When y is preceded by a vowel (a, e, i, o, u),
                add s only.

 

                        valley, valleys          attorney, attorneys

                        journey, journeys     Garvey, Garveys

 

                When y is preceded by a consonant, change
                the y to ies.

 

                        luxury, luxuries        company, companies

                        baby, babies            secretary, secretaries

 

                BUT: Kelly, Kellys (Do not change the spelling

                of proper nouns.  Just add s or es to make
                proper  nouns plural.)

 

 

        Nouns Ending in f or fe

                No standard rule is followed. Study these

                examples and use a dictionary when in doubt.

 

                        Add s                       Change to ves

                        cliff, cliffs                 wife, wives

                        safe, safes               shelf, shelves

                        Wolf, Wolfs              wolf, wolves

Nouns Ending in o

        When o is preceded by a vowel, add s only.

                studio, studios         curio, curios

 

        When o is preceded by a consonant, no
        standard rule applies. Add s or es.

 

                        Add s                       Add es

                        auto, autos              veto, vetoes

                        solo, solos               potato, potatoes

 

                Musical terms ending in o are always made
                plural by adding s only.

 

                        alto, altos                 piano, pianos

                        banjo, banjos           soprano, sopranos

 

Compound Nouns

If a compound noun is written as a single
        word, make the final element plural.

 

        workman, workmen

        toothbrush, toothbrushes

        bookshelf, bookshelves

 

If the compound noun is hyphenated or written
        as separate words, make the principal word
        plural.

 

        mother-in-law, mothers-in-law

        runner-up, runners-up

        editor in chief, editors in chief

Numerals, Alphabet Letters, Isolated Words, and
        Degrees

Generally, add s only. The current trend is to
        use ’s only for clarity.

 

        2000s                       M.D.s

        pros and cons         Bs and Cs

 

Isolated lowercase letters and the capital
        letters A, I, M, and U require ’s for clarity.

 

        Dot your i’s and cross your t’s.

        She received all A’s last semester.

 

Abbreviations

Usually add s to the singular form.

 

        yr., yrs.                    c.o.d., c.o.d.s

        wk., wks.                  no., nos.

 

 

Try Your Skill

 

How would you make the following words plural?

 

copy                                CPA

Sunday                            1970

knife                                p and q

editor in chief                  attorney general

 

KEY: copies, Sundays, knives, editors in chief, CPAs, 1970s, p’s and q’s, attorneys general

Level III

 

        Foreign Nouns

Nouns derived from foreign languages may
retain a foreign plural form, or they may have
an Americanized form.

 

            Singular                               Plural

            analysis                               analyses

            basis                                    bases

            criterion                               criteria or criterions

            millennium                           millennia or millenniums

            alumnus                               alumni (masculine)

            alumna                                 alumnae (feminine)

            datum*                                 data

formula                                formulae or formulas

stimulus                               stimuli

 

*Through frequent usage, the word data is now
            considered either singular or plural.

 

 

        Personal Titles

Personal titles may have formal or informal plural forms.

 

            Informal                               Formal

            Mr. Lee and Mr. Song          Messrs. Lee and Song

            Ms. Yu and Ms. Smith          Mses. Yu and Smith

            Mrs. Cohn and Mrs. Dun      Mmes. Cohn and Dun

            the Miss Deans                    The Misses Deans

 

        Special Nouns

Some special nouns are only singular or
plural in meaning. Other special nouns may be
considered either singular or plural in meaning.

 

Usually                 Usually             May be Singular

Singular               Plural               or Plural          

            billiards                clothes             Chinese

            economics           goods              corps

            genetics               pliers               deer

            kudos                  scissors           fish

            mathematics        statistics          politics

            measles               tongs               series

            mumps                 thanks             sheep

            news                    trousers           species

 

 

 

Try Your Skill

 

How would you make the following words plural?

 

bacterium                        crisis

headquarters                   hypothesis

memorandum                   moose

 

 

 

 

 

KEY: bacteria, headquarters, memoranda or memorandums, crises, hypotheses, moose