My Grammar and I (Or Should That Be 'Me'?): Old-School Ways to Sharpen Your English

O
NE DIE
,
TWO DICE
(
OR
, S
INGULAR AND PLURAL
)
‘We want people owning their home – we want people owning a
businesses.’
G
EORGE
W. B
USH
, 18 A
PRIL
2008
When a noun means only one thing it is singular . When it is more than one it is

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plural . The rules on how to make a plural start off straightforwardly, but then
do tend to head out into left field. Hang in there.
1.   Most singular nouns are made plural by adding the letter s : book , bell , candle
= books , bells , candles .
2.   However, if you add an s to such nouns as church , bus , fox , bush , bench , Jones
and waltz , they become difficult to pronounce. Which is why we add - es and
create an extra syllable: churches , buses , Joneses …
3.   If a noun ends in y , and the letter before the y is a vowel, again just add an s
key  =  keys  .  However,  if  a  noun  ends  in  y  and  the  letter  before  the  y  is  a
consonant, the y must be changed to an i and followed by es : lady = ladies/gallery
= galleries . That’s sorted then.
No, wait, there’s an exception: This rule does not apply to proper nouns: one
penny , several pennies , but Mr and Mrs Penny become the Pennys .
4.   To form the plurals of nouns ending in ff , add that s : cliffs, toffs etc. However,
words ending in a single f or in fe need to have these letters replaced with a v –
oh, and then add es : leaf = leaves , wife = wives .  Got  that?  Good,  because
there are exceptions.