English Nouns and Plurals ~ Los nombres y plurales ingleses

singular + -s

singular	plural
a car	two cars
a cassette	two cassettes
a lamp	two lamps
a hat	two hats
a cup	two cups

Add -es after sibilants:

singular	plural
a box	two boxes
a sandwich	two sandwiches
a suitcase	two suitcases
a rose	two roses
a garage	two garages

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Substitute y after consonant with -ies:

singular	plural
a city	two cities
a lady	two ladies

Add -s after vowel + y:

singular	plural
a boy	two boys
a day	two days

There are two forms of the plural of the word penny:
pennies -> You refer to the coins.
pence -> You refer to the price (how much sth. is).

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Nouns on -f or -fe:

add -s		substitute with -ves
singular	plural	singular	plural
a roof	two roofs	a thief	two thieves
a cliff	two cliffs	a wife	two wives
a sheriff	two sheriffs	a shelf	two shelves

There are two forms possible:

scarf - scarfs/scarves
hoof - hoofs/hooves

Add -s for words ending in -ff.

Always use a dictionary if you are not sure.

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Nouns on -o form the plural by adding -s or -es.

add -s		substitute with -ves
singular	plural	singular	plural
a disco	two discos	a tomato	two tomatoes
a piano	two pianos	a potato	two potatoes
a photo	two photos	a hero	two heroes

Some nouns can have two plural forms:

buffalo - buffalos/buffaloes
mosquito - mosquitos/mosquitoes
tornado - tornados/tornadoes

There is no rule when to use -s or -es. We often add -s with technical words.

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Irregular plural forms:

singular	plural
a man	two men
a woman	two women
a child	two children
a mouse	two mice
a tooth	two teeth
a goose	two geese
a foot	two feet
an ox	two oxen

 

 

 

What is the correct plural of the word?

1. How many (person) study English as a second language?
2. Five (woman) opened a computer service company.
3. Even (child) enjoy learning on the Internet.
4. Most basketball players are 6 (foot) tall or more.
5. Which breed of (sheep) produces the finest wool?
6. My (tooth) are sensitive to the cold.
7. At daylight savings time, we have to change our (watch) .
8. The boys went fishing and caught 10 (fish) .
9. There are 10 (man) in the Maintenance Department.
10. The (wife) keep their (knife) on the (shelf) .
11. (Goose) are water birds.
12. (Piano) are difficult to move .
13. There are some (policeman) in my house!
14. I've lost my (luggage) .

Write down the correct form of the plural:

1. city - .
2. house - .
3. boy - .
4. family - .
5. life - .
6. photo - .
7. phone - .
8. sandwich - .
9. nurse - .
10. elf - .
11. phenomenon - .
12. criterion - .
13. village - .
14. toy - .

Warning

Before submitting the test, check the following:

• Punctuation and capitalization
• Spelling
• Spaces (don't add any unnecessary spaces)

Such mistakes would cost you valuable points. Good luck!

ANIMALS

lions

Lions are the only cats that live in groups, which are called prides. Prides are family units that may include up to three males, a dozen or so females, and their young. All of a pride's lionesses are related, and female cubs typically stay with the group as they age. Young males eventually leave and establish their own prides by taking over a group headed by another male

Cheetah

The cheetah is the world's fastest land mammal. With acceleration that would leave most automobiles in the dust, a cheetah can go from 0 to 60 miles (96 kilometers) an hour in only three seconds. These big cats are quite nimble at high speed and can make quick and sudden turns in pursuit of prey.

tigers

Easily recognized by its coat of reddish-orange with dark stripes, the tiger is the largest wild cat in the world. The big cat weighs up to 720 pounds (363 kilograms), stretches 6 feet (2 meters) long, and has a 3-foot- (1-meter-) long tail. The powerful predator generally hunts alone, able to bring down prey such as deer and antelope.

dolphins

Their moans, groans, squeaks, whistles, and grunts can sound as if they're a heavy metal band. But bottlenose dolphins make their own kind of music. Many of the sounds they make could be imitated by holding a balloon tightly by the neck, then letting the air out faster and slower.

Brown bear

As winter approaches, brown bears—often called grizzly bears—prepare for a long hibernation. During the fall, a brown bear eats practically around the clock, stocking up for the four to seven months when it'll have to live off stored body fat. A grizzly may chow down on 90 pounds (40 kilograms) of food each day.

Coyotes

Coyotes in Los Angeles and Dallas? It's hard to imagine, but it's true. While populations of many other animals are shrinking, coyote populations are actually increasing. Coyotes once lived only in prairies and deserts of the western United States and in Mexico. Today they thrive almost anywhere in North America.

giants pandas

High in dense bamboo forests in the misty, rainy mountains of southwestern China lives one of the world's rarest mammals: the giant panda, also called the panda. Only about 1,000 of these black-and-white relatives of bears survive in the wild. Pandas eat almost nothing but bamboo shoots and leaves.

Wolves

The howl of a gray wolf isn't only a mysterious sound in the wilderness. Howling sends other wolves a message. It might mean "I'm here, where are you?" or "Stay away from my territory." Wolves live in groups called packs. The wolves' communication skills are very important to the pack's survival. Wolves work together to hunt, raise their young, and protect their territory.

Jaguar

Jaguars are the largest of South America's big cats and the third largest cats in the world. At one time jaguars roamed all the way to the U.S.-Mexico border, but jaguars are now only occasionally sighted in Texas and Arizona. Most jaguars are found in the Amazon River basin.

Gorillas

Youngsters tumble, climb, and run playing follow the leader. Another group plays a rowdy game of king of the mountain. Several adults watch the action, relaxing nearby. Is this a playground scene at school? No, guess again. It's a lush mountain forest high in the Virunga mountains of Africa, and the playmates are young mountain gorillas under the watchful eyes of their mothers.

Zebra

There is no mistaking what you're seeing when you spot a horselike animal with black-and-white stripes: it's a zebra. And each zebra has its own unique pattern of those distinctive stripes, just as humans have their own unique pattern of fingerprints.

Vampires bats

While much of the world sleeps, vampire bats emerge from dark caves, mines, tree hollows, and abandoned buildings in Mexico and Central and South America. They glide stealthily through the night air as they search for food. Like the legendary monster from which they get their name, these small mammals drink the blood of other animals for survival.

Tarantulas

Tarantulas give people the creeps because they have large, hairy bodies and legs. Even the bad guy in the movie Home Alone lets out a blood-curdling scream when Macauley Culkin places his brother's pet tarantula on his face! While these large spiders can take a painful bite out of a human, a tarantula's venom is weaker than from a typical bee sting.

Elephants

When you think elephant, you probably think trunk. An adult African elephant's trunk is about seven feet (two meters) long! It's actually an elongated nose and upper lip. Like most noses, trunks are for smelling. But they're also for touching and grasping.