Page 26 - (DK) Help Your Kids with Language Arts
P. 26
24 GRAMMAR
Plurals SEE ALSO
22–23 Nouns
Comparatives and superlatives 28–29
A NOUN’S PLURAL FORM IS USED WHEN THERE IS MORE THAN
Verb agreement 52–53
ONE OF SOMETHING. Prefixes and suffixes 142–143
The word plural refers to the form a noun takes when more than
one thing is being mentioned. Most nouns have distinctive singular
and plural forms.
Regular plural nouns
The most common way to make a noun plural is to add s
or es to the end of the singular form. Most nouns take the
ending -s, except for those ending in -s, -z, -x, -sh, -ch,
or -ss, which take the suffix (ending) -es.
Follow the rules
Some nouns are given different plural endings to make
them easier to pronounce. In most cases, it’s possible to If a word, such as cactus, has been
follow a few simple rules. If a word ends in -y, for example, borrowed from Latin, the Latin plural
and it has a vowel before the final -y, the plural is formed
in the usual way: An s is added. If the final -y is preceded form (here, cacti) is often used.
by a consonant, however, the y must be changed to i,
followed by the ending -es.
Words ending in
Most nouns -s, -x, -z, -sh, -ch, -ss consonant + -y -f -fe
replace -y with -i replace -f with -v replace -fe with -v
add -s add -es
then add -es then add -es then add -es
