IRREGULAR PLURALS LIST

Study these groups of words to learn how they change to plural.

Each group of words has similar changes.

US -> I
SINGULAR

PLURAL

alumnus

alumni

cactus

cacti

focus

foci/focuses

fungus

fungi/funguses

nucleus

nuclei

radius

radii

stimulus

stimuli

IS -> ES
SINGULAR

PLURAL

axis

axes

analysis

analyses

basis

bases

crisis

crises

diagnosis

diagnoses

ellipsis

ellipses

hypothesis

hypotheses

oasis

oases

paralysis

paralyses

parenthesis

parentheses

synthesis

syntheses

synopsis

synopses

thesis

theses

IX -> ICES
SINGULAR

PLURAL

appendix

appendices

index

indeces/indexes

matrix

matrices/matrixes

EAU -> EAUX

SINGULAR

PLURAL

beau

beaux

bureau

bureaus/bureaux

tableau

tableaux/tableaus

*** -> EN
SINGULAR

PLURAL

child

children

man

men

ox

oxen

woman

women

*** -> A
SINGULAR

PLURAL

bacterium

bacteria

corpus

corpora

criterion

criteria

curriculum

curricula

datum

data

genus

genera

medium

media

memorandum

memoranda

phenomenon

phenomena

stratum

strata

NO CHANGE
SINGULAR

PLURAL

deer

deer

fish

fish

means

means

offspring

offspring

series

series

sheep

sheep

species

species

OO -> EE
SINGULAR

PLURAL

foot

feet

goose

geese

tooth

teeth

A -> AE
SINGULAR

PLURAL

antenna

antennae/antennas

formula

formulae/formulas

nebula

nebulae

vertebra

vertebrae

vita

vitae

OUSE -> ICE

SINGULAR

PLURAL

louse

lice

mouse

mice

http://english-zone.com/spelling/plurals.html
Irregular Plural Nouns
While most nouns are easily made plural with a few simple changes,
such as adding an s or es to the end of the word, there is one group
of nouns that doesnt seem to follow the rules. Theyre called irregular
nouns and you guessed itthey dont become plural the regular way.
No worries, though.

Heres all the information you need to recognize

and form irregular plural nouns.

What is an Irregular Plural Noun?
An irregular plural noun is an irregular noun in the plural form.

An

irregular noun is a noun that becomes plural by changing its spelling in

other ways than adding an s or es to the end of the word. This

change can happen in a variety of ways. Below youll find examples and
guidelines to help you.
Examples of Irregular Plural Nouns
Some irregular nouns take on the plural form by first changing the last
letter of the word before adding s. Words that end in f are a good
example of this case. To make such a word plural, you change the f to
ve and add an s.
Plural nouns that end in ves:
More than one elf = elves
More than one calf = calves
More than one knife = knives
More than one loaf = loaves
More than one shelf = shelves
More than one wolf = wolves
More than one loaf = loaves
Irregular nouns made plural by changing vowels, changing the word, or
adding a different ending:
More than one man = men
More than one person = people

More than one mouse = mice

More than one child = children
More than one foot = feet
More than one goose = geese
More than one tooth = teeth
More than one louse = lice
More than one cactus = cacti
More than one appendix = appendices
More than one ox =oxen
Some irregular plural nouns have the same spelling as their singular
form such as scissors, pants, bison, deer, and sheep.And then some
animal nouns become plural by keeping the same spelling as the
singular form or by adding an s or es.
More than one cod = cod or cods
More than one shrimp = shrimp or shrimps
More than one fish = fish or fishes
More than one quail = quail or quails

Like most things, learning the rules for irregular plural nouns takes
practice. Once you put these guidelines to work for you, youll find it
much easier than you thought.
http://www.k12reader.com/term/irregular-plural-nouns/

Irregular plural nouns

In English, there are hundreds of nouns that dont follow the standard rules for pluralization. There are no easy
ways to remember them, so they generally have to be memorized.
Some of the rarer irregular plurals are often misused, leading to the creation of variant forms, which usually
encounter resistance at first but eventually make it into the language. For example, the plural of formula has
traditionally been formulae, but formulas is now far more common, and few would call it incorrect.

Latinate plurals
Some nouns have retained their plural forms from Latin and other languages:

singular

plural

addendum

addenda

alga

algae

alumnus

alumni

amoeba

amoebae

antenna

antennae

bacterium

bacteria

cactus

cacti

curriculum

curricula

datum

data

fungus

fungi

genus

genera

larva

larvae

memorandum

memoranda

stimulus

stimuli

syllabus

syllabi

vertebra

vertebrae

-o becoming oes
Most nouns ending in o are pluralized by adding an s, but some take es insteadfor example:

singular

plural

echo

echoes

embargo

embargoes

hero

heroes

potato

potatoes

tomato

tomatoes

torpedo

torpedoes

veto

vetoes

Changing vowel sounds

Some nouns change their central vowel sounds when pluralizedfor example:

singular

plural

foot

feet

goose

geese

louse

lice

man

men

mouse

mice

tooth

teeth

woman

women

-f becoming ves
Some nouns ending in f are pluralized by dropping the f and adding ves:

singular

plural

calf

calves

elf

elves

half

halves

hoof

hooves

knife

knives

leaf

leaves

life

lives

loaf

loaves

self

selves

shelf

shelves

thief

thieves

wife

wives

wolf

wolves

-is becoming es
Some nouns ending in is are pluralized by dropping the is and adding es:

singular

plural

axis

axes

analysis

analyses

basis

bases

crisis

crises

diagnosis

diagnoses

ellipsis

ellipses

emphasis

emphases

hypothesis

hypotheses

neurosis

neuroses

oasis

oases

paralysis

paralyses

parenthesis

parentheses

thesis

theses

-ix becoming ices

Some nouns ending in ix are pluralized by dropping the ix and adding ices:

singular

plural

appendix

appendices

index

indices

matrix

matrices

Unchanged plurals
A few nouns are unchanged in their plural forms:

singular

plural

barracks

barracks

deer

deer

fish

fish

gallows

gallows

means

means

offspring

offspring

series

series

sheep

sheep

species

species

http://grammarist.com/grammar/irregular-plural-nouns/