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Spelling: Noun Plurals

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Plurals of nouns can be created in the following ways:

1. Add an -s to form the plural of most words.

• elephant--elephants
• stereo--stereos

2. For words that end in a "hissing" sound (-s, -z, -x, -ch, -sh), add an -es to form the plural.

• box--boxes
• church--churches

3. If the word ends in a vowel plus -y (-ay, -ey, -iy, -oy, -uy), add an -s to the word.

• tray--trays
• key--keys

4. If the word ends in a consonant plus -y, change the -y into -ie and add an -s to form the plural.

• enemy--enemies
• baby--babies

5. For words that end in -is, change the -is to -es to make the plural form.

• synopsis--synopses
• thesis--theses

6. Some words that end in -f or -fe have plurals that end in -ves.

• knife--knives
• self--selves 

7. The plurals of words ending in -o are formed by either adding -s or by adding -es. The plurals of many words can be formed either way. To determine whether a particular word ends in -s or -es (or if the word can be spelled either way), check your dictionary or the list below. There are two helpful rules:

a. All words that end in a vowel plus -o (-ao, -eo, -io, -oo, -uo) have plurals that end in just -s:

• stereo--stereos
• studio--studios
• duo--duos

b. All musical terms ending in -o have plurals ending in just -s.

• piano--pianos
• cello--cellos
• solo--solos

c. Plural forms of words ending in -o:

-os	-oes	-os or -oes
albinos armadillos autos bravos broncos cantos casinos combos gazebos infernos kimonos logos maraschinos ponchos sombreros tacos torsos tobaccos typos	echoes embargoes heroes potatoes tomatoes torpedoes vetoes	avocados/oes buffaloes/os cargoes/os desperadoes/os dodoes/os dominoes/os ghettos/oes grottoes/os hoboes/os innuendoes/os lassos/oes mangoes/os mosquitoes/os mottoes/os mulattos/oes noes/os palmettos/oes peccadilloes/os tornadoes/os volcanoes/os zeros/oes

8. The plurals of single capital letters, acronyms, and Arabic numerals (1,2,3,...) take an -s WITHOUT an apostrophe:

• Z (the capital letter Z)--Zs
• UPC (Universal Product Code)--UPCs
• ATM (Automatic Teller Machine)--ATMs
• GUI (Graphical User Interface)--GUIs
• 3 (the Arabic numeral 3)--3s
  

If you are unsure of how to make a noun plural, you can look up the singular form of the noun in a dictionary to get the plural form.

Source: Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary

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