from Crown Academy of English and today we are going to do

a grammar lesson and

we are going to discuss nouns in

the plural. So we are going to look at

some regular nouns and

some irregular nouns. So

let's get started! So,

we're going to start with the easy ones.

So let's look at the regular nouns

and

the basic rule is that we simply

add an "s" to the end of

the noun to make it plural. So

for example, house

in the singular is

houses in the plural.

So you can see here, we simply

add an "s" to the end of house.

And some other examples...

coat, coats

dog, dogs

ship, ships

okay.. road,

roads and...

many more examples. So

this is the basic rule. This is probably

... the majority of nouns in English

are just regular nouns and they follow this rule

where we simply add an "s" to the end okay.

Now since this lesson is

a grammar lesson and not a vocabulary lesson,

then I won't be defining

these words okay? So if you don't know

what these words mean, then

I suggest that you look in a dictionary okay?

That is not the aim of the lesson today.

The aim is to teach you the grammar rules not

to teach you the

vocabulary alright?

So the first exception to the rule.

So the first type of irregular noun is the group of nouns which end in

"ch", "sh", "s" (or an "s" sound), "x" or "z".

So for all of those nouns, in the plural,

we form the plural by adding "es" to the end.

So example: church, churches.

dish, dishes.

bus, buses.

box, boxes.

buzz, buzzes and many more.

So these are... these all have the same rule.

So we simply take the singular form and in the plural, we add "es".

So there is an extra syllable when we pronounce it.

So you should be able to hear it.

In the singular, there is one syllable "church" and in the plural, it's "church -es"

So 2 syllables: churches, dishes, buses, boxes, buzzes.

So it is important that we hear the extra syllable when you pronounce it.

So, now nouns which end in

the letter "y". First of all,

if the noun ends in

first of all in a consonant and then the letter "y",

then,

in that case, we change the "y" to an

"i" and then we add

"es" to the end. So

an example: lady,

ladies. So you can see here,

in the singular, the end of

it has a consonant. So the letter "d" is a consonant,

followed by the letter "y" and so we follow the rule:

We change this "y" to an

"i" and then we add "es".

So city,

cities. baby,

babies. ferry,

ferries and...

there are many more... ok?

Now, there is another

case here, there is another example of...

we can also have nouns that

end in a vowel

and then the letter "y"

And here this is just like a regular noun.

So we add a letter "s"

to the end.

So a reminder: a vowel

is the letter a, e, i,

o or u ok?

So boy, boys

day, days

key, keys

OK? And again, there are many many more.

So this is not...

these are not the only ones. This is just a very small

sample. There are many more examples here.

So the rule when the noun ends in "y" -

If it is a consonant and then the letter "y", then we must

add... we must change the "y" to "i"

and add "es" and for all the other cases when it

ends in a vowel first, then we just add the letter "s".

Ok... and this time we are going to look

at nouns which end in

a letter "f" or "fe"

at the end. Ok...

so there are a list of nouns now

that I am going to give you which you must learn

because these are irregular. So

the nouns which you're going to see now... the rule

is that we change...

we replace the letter "f" or if it is

"fe", we replace that with "ves". Example:

leaf, leaves

shelf, shelves

And listen to the pronunciation ok? The pronunciation - we...

we must hear the letter "v" in the plural.

life, lives

wife, wives

calf, calves

elf, elves

half, halves

knife, knives

loaf, loaves

self, selves

thief, thieves

wolf, wolves

Alright, so in all of

these examples that you can see here,

this... they follow this rule. So

we changed the "f" to... "ves"

Or if it ends in "fe" like here...

"knife" then the "fe"

changes to "ves" and we say

knives.

So...

these are the exceptions,

and for most of the other nouns,

okay, so pretty much the rest of the nouns

which end in "f" or "fe"

then they are just regular nouns...

and we just add "s" to the end.

So just two examples:

roof, roofs

and giraffe, giraffes

and many more ok?

So my advice for you, for nouns

ending in "f" or "fe",

my advice is for you to learn this list here

at the top. These are the most

common examples of nouns

where you have to change the "f" (or "fe")

into "ves" okay? So

if you learn this list

at the top, then you know

all the other nouns are just regular

okay? So this list at the top

is the exceptions okay?

These are the ones where you have to change it to "ves"

and all the others, or most of the others

we just add an "s" ... okay?

Let's carry on.

Now, nouns ending in the letter

"o" This is a little bit more

complicated. So we'll start with the

easy part first. So the easy part

is the nouns which end

in a vowel and then the letter "o"

So, those are the vowels..

and this is easy. We just add the letter

"s" to the end. So we

... we treat them like a regular noun.

So just a couple of examples here. There aren't many examples of this

so we have radio and

this becomes radios in the plural. So we just

add an "s". So we can see here -

The end of the noun

has a vowel. The vowel is the letter "i"

followed by the letter "o"... and so we follow this rule. We

add a letter "s". So radio is

radios

and zoo

is zoos in the plural

So again, the letter "o" is a vowel

followed by an "o" and so we just add a letter "s"

There are a few

other examples of this but there aren't very many

to be honest with you.

The important one is nouns

ending in

the letter "o" with a consonant.

So a consonant plus the letter "o"

We have, first of all, we have some

irregular nouns...

and for the list that you're going to see

we add "es" to the end.

So you must remember this list okay? You must

learn this list of nouns.

So potato, potatoes

So the pronunciation is the same. There is no difference in their pronunciation.

It is the same pronunciation as

if there was just an "s" at the end.

tomato, tomatoes

hero, heroes

echo, echoes

veto, sorry veto,

vetoes

or veto / veto. Yes it's pronounced veto in fact

and vetoes. torpedo,

torpedoes

embargo,

embargoes

buffalo,

buffaloes

domino,

dominoes. mosquito,

mosquitoes.

Alright, so

just before we carry on, so all of these

nouns on the left, again

you must learn this list okay?

These are the exceptions. These

are the irregular nouns

which end in the letter "o". So

for all the others, okay.. so for

all the other nouns - Some of them...

some of the others... we must

just add a letter "s". So

some up the others... they are just regular.

We just add a letter "s" ... and

some of the others, we can choose to

either add a letter "s" OR

"es" okay? So both

would be correct. Either would be correct.

So since both would be correct,

then to make it

easy for us, then

we are just going to add

an "s" for all the others because that makes it more

easy ok? So for example:

casino,

casinos. photo,

photos. solo,

solos. volcano,

volcanos. tornado,

tornados

and

many more ok? So

again, just to summarise, learn

this list on the left okay... so that you know

these nouns here, in this list,

in the plural, you have to add "es"

and in all

the other cases... in all the

other nouns, then just

add the latter "s" ok? That makes it easy for you. Just

add a letter "s". And

in fact these words here, this list

will always stay the same because these are quite

old words in the English

language. All new nouns,

all new words which

end in "o" in the English language,

they follow this rule

on the right. So we will always

add "s" to new nouns

which end in "o". So all you need to do is just to learn

this list and any other nouns,

just add an "s" to.

Now in the English language, there are

sometimes... we have a few words which come from

Latin and in fact

Greek as well. So we have to...

they have a slightly different rule in the plural.

So there are some

Latin nouns which end in "us"

and for those

nouns, the plural...

it is a Latin plural. And

the Latin plural, we add a letter "i"

So we change the "us" to "i"

And there are a few examples here: