Singular and plural nouns Worksheet Practice Exercises with Answers

Lesson 3: Singular and Plural Nouns

What's the difference between cat and cats? The noun cat is used when it refers to only one cat; its form is singular. The noun cats is used when it represents more than one cat; its form is plural. Thus, the singular and plural forms tell us about number. Below are some nouns in their singular and plural forms.

Test Yourself 3.1

Question 1. He had a few good ideas.
Answer: ideas (PL)
In simple words: "Ideas" is the noun here, and it is plural because there are more than one.

Exam Tip: Always identify all nouns in a sentence and check if they name one thing (singular) or more than one (plural).

Question 2. The boys spoke in a quiet whisper.
Answer: boys (PL), whisper (SG)
In simple words: "Boys" is plural because there are many boys. "Whisper" is singular because there is only one whisper happening.

Exam Tip: Remember that a sentence can have both singular and plural nouns - find each one separately and label it.

Question 3. The tourists greeted the queen with attitudes of respect.
Answer: tourists (PL), queen (SG), attitudes (PL), respect (SG)
In simple words: "Tourists" and "attitudes" are plural - more than one. "Queen" and "respect" are singular - only one each.

Exam Tip: Work through each noun methodically - do not skip any, even if they seem less important to the sentence meaning.

Question 4. My neighbor is a neurologist.
Answer: neighbor (SG), neurologist (SG)
In simple words: Both nouns are singular here - one neighbor, one neurologist - they both name single things.

Exam Tip: Even in short sentences, check for all nouns - do not assume a sentence has only one noun.

Question 5. The exterminator found bugs in the office.
Answer: exterminator (SG), bugs (PL), office (SG)
In simple words: "Exterminator" and "office" are singular - only one of each. "Bugs" is plural - many insects.

Exam Tip: Look for plural markers like -s or -es at the end of words, but remember that some irregular plurals do not follow this pattern.

Test Yourself 3.2

Question 1. The doctor treated most of the patients who were waiting.
Answer: patients (REG)
In simple words: "Patients" is a regular plural because we add -s to make the singular "patient" into a plural.

Exam Tip: Regular plurals follow the simple rule of adding -s or -es to the singular form.

Question 2. The geese crossed the road near my car.
Answer: geese (IRREG)
In simple words: "Geese" is an irregular plural - we do not add -s. The singular is "goose," which changes its vowel to become "geese."

Exam Tip: Common irregular plurals like geese, men, children, and mice must be memorized since they do not follow the regular -s pattern.

Question 3. She set a trap to catch the mice that had invaded her kitchen.
Answer: mice (IRREG)
In simple words: "Mice" is an irregular plural - the singular "mouse" changes completely to "mice," not by adding -s.

Exam Tip: Many animal-related plurals are irregular - learn them well by practice and reading.

Question 4. You will have to feed the oxen most afternoons.
Answer: oxen (IRREG), afternoons (REG)
In simple words: "Oxen" is irregular - the singular "ox" becomes "oxen" by adding -en, not -s. "Afternoons" is regular - we simply add -s to "afternoon."

Exam Tip: In one sentence, you may find both regular and irregular plurals - identify each type separately.

Question 5. Whenever I travel to the countryside, I see many sheep, ducks, deer, and cows.
Answer: sheep (IRREG), ducks (REG), deer (IRREG), cows (REG)
In simple words: "Sheep" and "deer" are irregular - they look the same in both singular and plural forms. "Ducks" and "cows" are regular - we add -s to make them plural.

Exam Tip: Some irregular nouns have identical singular and plural forms - "sheep" is both one animal and many animals.

Regular and Irregular Plurals

Usually, we make a noun plural by adding an "s" to it, as in books; these nouns are called regular. There are a few nouns that become plural in other ways; these nouns are called irregular.

Irregular nouns form their plural in different ways. Here are some common patterns:

• Changing a vowel: man/men, for example
• Adding "ren" or "en": child/children, for example
• Adding nothing: fish/fish, for example
• Changing "f" to "v" and then adding "s": knife/knives, for example

To Enhance Your Understanding

What is the plural of the "word" blun? Even though you've probably never seen this made-up word, you're likely to say its plural is bluns. That's because we don't have to remember the ending of regular plurals; we simply use our plural formation rule: "add s." But the forms for irregular plural words, like children and men, need to be learned by heart since they don't follow a consistent pattern.

To Further Enhance Your Understanding

Earlier we said that we usually make a noun plural in English by adding an "s" to it. There's actually more to it than that, when one looks at the way we say regular nouns more closely.

Here are some regular English nouns:

Say each word in column A out loud, adding its plural ending. (Don't whisper, or this won't work.) You'll notice that, as you expect, you're adding an [s] sound to each word. (Symbols in square brackets [ ] show sounds rather than letters.) Now say each word in column B out loud, adding its plural ending. If you listen carefully, you'll notice that you're not adding an [s] sound to each word to make it plural. You're actually adding a [z] sound! (If English is not your native language, you may not be doing this.)

It turns out that we picked up, when we were getting English as children, that it is the last sound, and not letter, of a regular noun that decides whether we add [s] or [z]. Some sounds (voiced sounds) are made with our vocal cords moving, like the strings of a guitar. Try this: hold your hand touching your throat, about where a man's Adam's apple is, while you say and hold a [v] sound ([v v v v v ...]). You'll feel the movement of your vocal cords.

Other sounds (voiceless sounds) are made with our vocal cords not moving. Now touch your hand to your throat again and this time say and hold an [f] sound ([f f f f f ...]); you will notice the lack of movement.

So how do we know whether to say the plural with an [s] or [z] sound? If the last sound of a word is a voiceless sound, we add an [s] sound to make it plural. If the last sound of a word is a voiced sound, we add a [z] sound to make it plural. This is not a rule that someone has ever taught us, but part of our inner knowledge of English.

Notice that having an [s] sound after voiceless sounds makes sense: [s] itself is voiceless. By the same reasoning, having a [z] after voiced sounds also makes sense: [z] itself is voiced. So what you can see is that the last sound of the noun and the sound of the regular plural share the same voicing trait: either the vocal cords move for both sounds, or they don't.

You may have noticed that there's actually a third type of regular noun. Say the following words out loud, adding the plural ending to each:

These words all already end in sounds (again, not letters) that are either [s] or [z] or sounds very similar to them. They are all "noisy" sounds. For the plural forms of these words, we put in a vowel sound (written with the letter e) followed by a [z] sound (but written with the letter s): glasses, mazes, wishes, garages, churches, judges. If you think about it, saying a vowel between the noisy sound at the end of the noun and the noisy sound [z] of the plural makes sense: without that vowel, we would have two noisy sounds in a row, something that would be harder for the listener to hear clearly.

Wow! You may want to just pause for a moment here and think about how complex what you know about your language really is. And you knew how to do this before you even went to kindergarten! You just haven't known that you know it.