THE CATEGORY OF NUMBER. THE PLURAL OF ENGLISH NOUNS.1. The general rule for forming plural English nouns is adding the ending –s/-es to the singular: a) a map- map s [s] — after voiceless consonants; b) a table-tabl es [z] – after voiced consonants & vowels; c) a bench-bench es [iz] — after sibilants ending in –s, -ss, -sh, -ch: exceptions! – epochs, monarchs, stomachs [ks]. 2. The nouns ending in –y a) preceded by a consonant form the plural by changing –y into -i + adding –es: a city- cit ies; b) preceded by a vowel form the plural by adding –s to the stem of the word: a day-day s; c) 3. The nouns ending in –f/-fe change it into –ves: a wife-wi ves, a shelf-shel ves. But! roof - roofs, safe - safes, cliff - cliffs, belief - beliefs, chief - chiefs, proof - proofs, gulf - gulfs, dwarf - dwarfs, cuff - cuffs, grief - griefs. 4. The nouns ending in –o a) preceded by a consonant form the plural by adding –es: a hero-heroes, potato-potatoes; But! This rule doesn't concern proper names (Romeo - Romeos), abbreviations (kilo - kilos, photo - photos) and some borrowed words (piano - pianos, soprano - sopranos, concerto - concertos, solo - solos, tobacco - tobaccos, sombrero - sombreros, kimono - kimonos). b) preceded by a vowel form the plural by adding –s: a zoo- zoos, a radio-radios; c) sometimes two variants are possible: cargos/cargoes, volcanos/volcanoes, cargo - cargo(e)s, halo - halo(e)s, banjo - banjo(e)s. 5. The nouns ending in –th a) preceded by a long vowel form the plural by adding –s & they are pronounced as [ ]: a bath- baths; b) preceded by a short vowel & consonants form the plural by adding –s & they are pronounced as [ ]: a myth- myths.
6. Irregular nouns form the plural by: a) changing a root vowel -- a tooth-teeth; man – men, woman – women, tooth – teeth, foot – feet, goose – geese, mouse – mice, louse - lice b) no changes: a deer-deer; a sheep - sheep (овца - овцы,a swine - swine (свинья - свиньи) a deer - deer (олень - олени) a craft - craft (самолет - самолеты) a grouse - grouse (куропатка - куропатки) a counsel - counsel (адвокат - группа адвокатов) c) Some nouns denoting names of animals may have two plural forms: fish - fish / fishes, pike - pike / pikes, trout - trout / trouts, carp - carp / carps, salmon - salmon / salmons d) Nouns in -ese, -ss denoting nationalities also have the same form for the singular and the plural: a Chinese - many Chinese, a Swiss - many Swiss. e) by the ending –en child – children, ox – oxen, brother - brethren (not relations, but members of the same society)
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