Spelling: Noun Plurals

Brought to you by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/index.htm.

Plurals of nouns can be created in the following ways:

(See our handout on Count and Non-Count Nouns at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslcount.html for more information on nouns.)

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

The following information must remain intact on every handout printed for distribution.

This page is located at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/grammar/spelnoun.html.

Copyright ©1995-2004 by OWL at Purdue University and Purdue University. All rights reserved.
Use of this site, including printing and distributing our handouts, constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use, available at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/lab/fairuse.html.

To contact OWL, please visit our contact information page at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/lab/contact.html to find the right person to call or email.