Numbers (Singular and plural) – Definition, types, and examples

What is a Number?

The number is a grammatical element and in English grammar, there are two types of numbers.

1. Singular
2. Plural

Pronouns, verbs, determiners, and nouns all fall under these two groups. In other words, a noun, pronoun, determiner, or verb might be categorized as singular or plural.

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What is a singular?

Anything that refers to a quantity 1 is referred to as singular

Examples:

1) A boy

2) A tourist place

3) A pencil

4) That book is mine.

This sentence consists of a singular determiner, noun, verb, and pronoun.

Here, “That” is the singular determiner, “book” is the singular noun, “is” is the singular verb, and “mine” is the singular pronoun.

5) Rahul passed his exam

This sentence consists of a singular determiner, noun, verb, and pronoun.

Here, “Rahul” is the singular noun, “passed” is a singular verb, and “his” is a singular pronoun.

What is a plural?

Anything that refers to more than one quantity is called plural.

Examples:

1) Teachers

2) Districts

3) Journals

4) They like these places.

This sentence consists of plural pronouns, verbs, determiners, and nouns.

Here, “They” is a plural pronoun, “like” is a plural verb, “these” is a plural determiner, and “places” is a plural noun.

5) They change their houses.

This sentence consists of plural pronouns, verbs, determiners, and nouns.

Here, “They” is a plural pronoun, “change” is a plural verb, “their” is a plural determiner, and “places” is a plural noun.

How to convert a singular noun to a plural noun?

There are 7 different ways to convert a singular noun to its form forms.

Rule 1: The plural of nouns is formed by adding ‘s’ to the singular noun.

Examples:

1. Girl: Girls
2. Boy: Boys
3. Teacher: Teachers
4. House: Houses
5. Horse: Horses
6. Flower: Flowers
7. Rose: Roses
8. Month: Months
9. Year: Years
10. Flat: Flats

Rule 2: The plural of nouns is formed by adding ‘es’ to the singular nouns ending with ‘s’, ‘sh’ , ‘ch’, or ‘x’.

Examples:

1. Match: Matches
2. Bench: Benches
3. Class: Classes
4. Brush: Brushes
5. Watch: Watches
6. Bus: Buses
7. Box: Boxes
8. Wash: Washes
9. Gas: Gases
10. Glass: Glasses

Rule 3: The plural of nouns is formed by adding ‘es’ to the singular nouns ending with ‘o’,

Examples;

1. Zero: Zeroes
2. Hero: Heroes
3. Potato: Potatoes
4. Tomato: Tomatoes
5. Echo: Echoes
6. Flamingo: Flamingoes
7. Go: Goes
8. Cargo: Cargoes
9. Mosquito: Mosquitoes
10. Buffalo: Buffaloes

Rule 4: The plural nouns are formed by changing ‘y’ into ‘i’ and then adding ‘es’ for the singular noun preceded by a consonant and ending with ‘y’.

Examples:

1. Baby: Babies
2. Lady: Ladies
3. Bully: Bullies
4. Lilly: Lillies
5. City: Cities

For nouns that end with ‘y’ but, are preceded by a vowel, the plural nouns are formed by adding ‘s’.

Examples:

1. Monkey: Monkeys
2. Donkey: Donkeys
3. Key: Keys

Rule 5: The plural nouns are formed by replacing ‘f’ or ‘fe’ to ‘v’ and adding ‘es’ for singular nouns ending with ‘f’ or ‘fe’.

Examples:

1. Shelf: Shelves
2. Thief: Thieves
3. Life: Lives
4. Leaf: Leaves
5. Wife: Wives

Rule 6: Few plural nouns are formed by changing the vowel inside the singular noun.

Examples:

1. Woman: Women
2. Man: Men
3. Tooth: Teeth
4. Foot: Feet
5. Mouse: Mice

Rule 7: Few plural nouns are formed by adding ‘en’ to the singular noun

Examples:

1. Ox: Oxen
2. Child: Children

Some nouns have identical singular and plural forms.

Examples:

1) Singular: Ramu brought feed for the sheep.

Plural: There were two sheep on Ramu’s farm.

2) Singular: This laptop cost me 60000 Rupees.

Plural: These laptops cost me 60000 Rupees.

Read Also

• Phrases – Definition, Types, and Examples
• What is a noun? – definition, types, and examples
• Conjunction – definition, examples, types, and rules
• Sentences – definition, meaning, and types
• Interjection- Definition, Types, And Example

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