inflections
The regular plural suffix-sis added to singular nouns e.g.:cats, bats,Somecompound nouns, take the plural suffix -s in the first element as inpassers-by, mothers-in-law; some take the plural suffix in both the firstand the last elements as inwomen doctors;and others take the pluralsuffix in the last element as inassistant professors.The suffix-esis added to singular nouns ending in /s, z
The suffix-esis added to singular nouns ending in /s, z,sh,ch, j/, e.g.:buses, dishes, churches, bridges, roses. It is added to singular nounsending in-ypreceded by a consonant as insky, skies, spy, spies, story,stories. Nouns ending with-ypreceded by a vowel take the pluralsuffix /-s/ as inboys, days, bays,storeys.
It is also added to singular nouns ending in /-o/ preceded by aconsonant as inechoes, potatoes, heroes, embargoes, tomatoes, vetoes,torpedoes. Nouns ending with /-o/ preceded by a vowel take the pluralsuffix /-s/, e.g.:studios, radios, pianos.Some take the suffix /-os/ or /-oes/ asarchipelago, buffalo, cargo, flamingo, halo, tornado, volcano,commando.
Nouns of unusual form, letters, numbers and signs take the plural suffix/-'s/, when thought of as things, e.g.:1980's, TA's, A's, B's, 5's, when's,do's anddon’t’s(6) The plural suffix-sis pronounced [s] after a voiceless consonant as incats; it is pronounced [z] after a voiced consonant as indogs; and it ispronounced [iz] after [s, z,sh,ch,dj] as in bus,buses; rose, rose,bridges, churches, dishes.
The suffix /-s/ is not added to singular invariable nouns ending in-s.Although such nouns are plural in form, yet they are construed assingular, e.g.:News􀂃Some diseases:measles, German measles, mumps, rickets, shingles.􀂃Subject names ending in-ics:classics, linguistics, mathematics,phonetics, pediatrics, statistics, politics, economics, graphics,andastronautics. Nouns ending in -icsare singular when theydenote scientific subjects, and plural when they denote activitiesand qualities such asacrobatics, acoustics.
The suffix /-s/ is not added to singular invariable nouns ending in-s.Although such nouns are plural in form, yet they are construed assingular, e.g.:􀂃News􀂃Some diseases:measles, German measles, mumps, rickets,shingles.􀂃Subject names ending in-ics:classics, linguistics, mathematics,phonetics, pediatrics, statistics, politics, economics, graphics,andastronautics. Nouns ending in -icsare singular when theydenote scientific subjects, and plural when they denote activitiesand qualities such asacrobatics, acoustics.􀂃Some games:cards, billiards, bowls, dominoes, checkers.􀂃Some proper nouns:Algiers, Athens, Brussels, the UnitedNations.
The suffix /-s/ occurs in some plural invariable nouns. These nounshave no singular form, e.g.:􀂃Tools and articles of dress consisting of two equal parts whichare joined:tongs, binoculars, pincers, pliers, scales, scissors,tweezers, glasses, spectacles,pyjamas, pants, shorts, tights,trousers.􀂃Other nouns that only occur in the plural are:the Middle Ages,annals, archives, arms, ashes, brains, clothes, the Commons, customs, earrings, fireworks, funds, goods, greens, guts, heads,lodgings, looks, manners, means, oats, outskirts, premises,remains, riches, savings, stairs, surroundings, troops,tropics,valuables.
A suffix zero, symbolized -0, indicating no formal change in the stemform, but with plural meaning, is used with collective nouns such as:cattle, clergy, gentry, people, police, youth.(10)Nouns ending in–f:􀂃Some singular nouns ending in -f form their plurals by voicing ofthe last consonant of the stem and adding the plural suffix -es, asin:wife, wives; leaf, leaves; half, halves; calf, calves; knife,knives; loaf, loaves; life, lives; self, selves; thief, thieves.
􀂃Some singular nouns ending in -f have a regular plural:beliefs,chiefs, roofs, safes, proofs, cliffs.􀂃Some nouns ending in -f have both regular and voiced plurals:dwarfs, dwarves; handkerchief, handkerchiefs; hoof, hooves;scarf, scarves.
Some common nouns form their plural by areplaciveallomorph. Here,plural formation involves mutation (internal change of vowel) as in:foot, feet; tooth, teeth; goose, geese; man, men; louse, lice; mouse,mice; woman, women. Some nouns that describe the people of acountry (nouns of nationality) and end with -man also take thereplaciveallomorph -men as inEnglishman, Englishmen.(10) The suffix/-en/is used with or without additional changes in threewords:brother, brethren; ox, oxen; child, children.(
A suffix zero, symbolized -0, indicating no formal change in the stemform, but with plural meaning. Such nouns can be treated as singular orplural, e.g.:􀂃Some nouns of animal, bird and fish:sheep, sheep; fish, fish;pike, pike; trout, trout; carp, carp; deer, deer; salmon, salmon;moose, moose.Some animal names have two a zero plural and aregular plural. In such cases, the zero plural is the one used in thecontext of hunting (language of hunters and fishermen); theregular plural is used to denote different individuals, varieties orspecies.
Quantitative nouns referring to numbers and measurements whenused after a number or a quantity word such ashundred,thousand, million, billion, dozen, brace, head(of cattle):onedozen, three dozen; one thousand, five thousand; one million, tenmillion.􀂃Some nouns ending in -ies:series, series; species, species;􀂃Nouns ending in -s in the singular and other nouns.Headquarters, headquarters; means, means.􀂃Some nouns describing the people of a country ending in -eseor-ss, e.g.:Chinese, Chinese, Swiss, Swiss.􀂃Other nouns:offspring, offspring; aircraft, aircraft.
Certain singular loan words from other languages mostly Latin haveretained the plural formation used in the originallanguage. The following plural suffixes are used:􀂃Singular nouns ending in-ustake the plural suffix-ias in:stimulus, stimuli; alumnus, alumni; locus, loci.􀂃Singular nouns ending in-atake the plural suffix-ae:alga,algae; larva, larvae.􀂃Singular nouns ending in-umtake the plural suffix-a:curriculum, curricula; bacterium, bacteria; stratum, strata.􀂃Singular nouns ending in-ex, -ixtake the plural suffix-ices:index, indices;appendix, appendices; matrix, matrices.
􀂃Singular nouns ending in-istake the plural suffix-es: analysis,analyses; hypothesis, hypotheses; parenthesis, parentheses;thesis, theses􀂃Singular nouns ending in-ontake the plural suffix-a: criterion,criteria; phenomenon, phenomena.􀂃Singular nouns ending in-eautake the plural suffix-eaux:bureau ,bureaux; plateau,plateaux.
Certain loan words have regular plural:bonus-es, campus-es,virus-es, chorus-es, circus-es, area-s, arena-s, diploma-s,drama-s, album-s, museum-s, stadium-s, electron-s, neutron-s,proton-s.􀂃Foreign plurals often occur along with regular plurals. Theforeign plural is commoner in technical usage, whereas the-splural is more natural in everyday language. e.g.:appendix,appendixes, appendices; formula, formulas, formulae; criterion,criterions, criteria; dogma, dogmas, dogmata; medium,mediums, media.
0
Embed
Upload