Grammar tips

Today we will continue to take a look at irregular plural nouns, which are nouns that do not become plural by adding -s or -es, as most nouns in the English language do.

This is important information for the CACD 1st phase, as there have been many questions about these types of word forms.

Nouns that change vowels

Many English words become plural by changing their vowels, such as oo to ee or an to en.

• Examples: foot (feet); tooth (teeth); goose (geese); man (men); woman (women).

Irregular nouns that change substantially

For a variety of historical reasons, some words change in spelling substantially when made plural.

• Examples: mouse (mice); die (dice); ox (oxen); child (children); person (people).

Irregular nouns that do not change at all when made plural

Some English nouns are identical in both the singular and the plural forms. Many of these are names for animals.

• Examples (animals): sheep; fish; moose; swine; buffalo; shrimp; trout.
• Aircraft, watercraft, hovercraft, and spacecraft are all the same whether singular or plural.

Stay tuned for more of Todd's grammar tips in our CACD English Newsletter!!