| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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8. Word Formation
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| a. Plurals, Possessives, Affixes,
and Compounds |
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| THIS chapter tells you how to form the plural and possessive forms of nouns and how to style compound words. It also provides some basic rules that account for the spelling changes that occur when suffixes are added to a word. A final section lists and explains the most commonly used prefixes and suffixes. | 1 |
| | | Guide to Forming Plurals |
| In this section we outline the rules for forming plurals in English. | 2 |
| The plural of most nouns is formed by adding -s to the singular: apple, apples; bell, bells; epoch, epochs; grief, griefs; law, laws; month, months; pear, pears; shade, shades; George, Georges; the Walkers; the Romanos. | 3 |
| Common nouns ending in ch (soft), sh, s, ss, x, z or zz usually form their plurals by adding -es: church, churches; slash, slashes; gas, gases or gasses; class, classes; fox, foxes; quiz, quizzes; buzz, buzzes. | 4 |
| Proper nouns of this type always add -es: Charles, Charleses; the Keaches; the Joneses; the Coxes. | 5 |
| Common nouns ending in y preceded by a vowel usually form their plurals by adding -s: bay, bays; guy, guys; key, keys; toy, toys. | 6 |
| Common nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant or by qu change the y to i and add -es: baby, babies; city, cities; faculty, faculties; soliloquy, soliloquies. | 7 |
| Proper nouns ending in y form their plurals regularly, and do not change the y to i as common nouns do: the two Kathys, the Connallys, the two Kansas Citys. There are a few well-known exceptions to this rule: the Alleghenies, the Ptolemies, the Rockies, the Two Sicilies | 8 |
| Most nouns ending in f, ff, or fe form their plurals regularly by adding -s to the singular: chief, chiefs; proof, proofs; roof, roofs; sheriff, sheriffs; fife, fifes. However, some nouns ending in f or fe change the f or fe to v and add -es: calf, calves; elf, elves; half, halves; knife, knives; life, lives; loaf, loaves; self, selves; shelf, shelves; thief, thieves; wife, wives; wolf, wolves. A few nouns ending in f or ff, including beef, dwarf, hoof, scarf, wharf, and staff have two plural forms: beefs or beeves; dwarfs or dwarves; hoofs or hooves; scarfs or scarves; wharfs or wharves; staffs or staves. In this case, sometimes different forms have different meanings, as beefs (complaints) and beeves (animals) or staffs (people) and staves (long poles). | 9 |
| Nouns ending in o preceded by a vowel form their plurals by adding -s to the singular: cameo, cameos; duo, duos; studio, studios; zoo, zoos. | 10 |
| Most nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant also usually add -s to form the plural: alto, altos; casino, casinos; ego, egos; Latino, Latinos; memo, memos; neutrino, neutrinos; poncho, ponchos; silo, silos. However, some nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant add -es: echo, echoes; hero, heroes; jingo, jingoes; no, noes; potato, potatoes; tomato, tomatoes. Some nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant have two plural forms (the preferred form is given first): buffaloes or buffalos; cargoes or cargos; desperadoes or desperados; halos or haloes; mosquitoes or mosquitos; zeros or zeroes. | 11 |
| Most nouns ending in i form their plurals by adding -s:alibi, alibis; khaki, khakis; rabbi, rabbis; ski, skis. Three notable exceptions to this rule are alkali, taxi, and chili: alkalis or alkalies; taxis or taxies; chilies. | 12 |
| A few nouns undergo a vowel change in the stem: foot, feet; goose, geese; louse, lice; man, men; mouse, mice; tooth, teeth; woman, women. Usually compounds in which one of these nouns is the final element form their plurals in the same way: webfoot, webfeet; gentleman, gentlemen; dormouse, dormice; Englishwoman, Englishwomen. Note, however, that mongoose and many words ending in man, such as German and human, are not compounds. These words form their plurals by adding -s: mongooses; Germans, humans. | 13 |
| Three nouns have plurals ending in en: ox, oxen; child, children; brother, brothers (of the same parent) or brethren (a fellow member). | 14 |
| Compounds written as a single word form their plurals the same way that the final element of the compound does: dishcloth, dishcloths; hairbrush, hairbrushes; midwife, midwives; anchorman, anchormen; businesswoman, businesswomen. | 15 |
| In rare cases both parts of the compound are made plural: manservant, menservants. | 16 |
| Compounds ending in -ful normally form their plurals by adding -s at the end: cupful, cupfuls; handful, handfuls; tablespoonful, tablespoonfuls. | 17 |
| Compound words, written with or without a hyphen, that consist of a noun followed by an adjective or other qualifying expression form their plurals by making the same change in the noun that is made when the noun stands alone: attorney-general, attorneys-general; daughter-in-law, daughters-in-law; man-of-war, men-of-war; heir apparent, heirs apparent; notary public, notaries public. | 18 |
| Some nouns, mainly names of birds, fishes, and mammals, have the same form in the plural as in the singular: bison, deer, moose, sheep, swine. Some words that follow this pattern, such as antelope, cod, crab, elk, fish, flounder, grouse, herring, quail, reindeer, salmon, shrimp, and trout, also have regular plurals ending in -s: antelope, antelopes; fish, fishes; salmon, salmons. Normally in such cases the unchanged plural indicates that the animal in question is being considered collectively, while the plural ending in -s is used specifically to indicate different varieties or species or kinds: We caught six fish but Half a dozen fishes inhabit the lake. By far, however, most animal names take a regular plural: dogs, cats, lions, monkeys, whales. | 19 |
| Many words indicating nationality or place of origin have the same form in the plural as in the singular: Japanese, Milanese, Swiss. | 20 |
| Similarly a few names of tribes or peoples have the same form in the plural as in the singular: Iroquois, Sioux. Many other such names have both an unchanged plural form and a regular plural form ending in -s:Apache or Apaches; Cherokee or Cherokees; Eskimo or Eskimos; Zulu or Zulus. | 21 |
| Many nouns derived from a foreign language retain their foreign plurals: (from Latin) alumna, alumnae; alumnus, alumni; bacillus, bacilli; genus, genera; series, series; species, species; (from Greek) analysis, analyses; basis, bases; crisis, crises; criterion, criteria or criterions; phenomenon, phenomena or phenomenons; (from French) adieu, adieux or adieus; beau, beaux or beaus; madame, mesdames; (from Italian) paparrazzo, paparazzi; (from Hebrew) cherub, cherubim or cherubs; kibbutz, kibbutzim. As you can see, many words of this type also have a regular plural ending in -s or -es, in which case the English plural is usually the one used in everyday speech, and the foreign plural is reserved for a technical sense or for use by a specialist: antennas (TV or radio part) or antennae (physiological structure). | 22 |
| Usage with regard to forming the plurals of letters, numbers, and abbreviations varies somewhat. In some cases you have a choice between adding -s or -’s, although the trend is increasingly to add -s alone: three As or three A’s; the ABCs or the ABC’s; the 1900s or the 1900’s; PhDs or PhD’s; several IOUs or several IOU’s. With lowercase letters, symbols, abbreviations with periods, and in cases where confusion might arise without an apostrophe, use -’s to form the plural: p’s and q’s; +’s; -’s; M.A.’s; A’s and I’s; 2’s. Mainly your goal is to be as clear as possible and avoid confusion. | 23 |
| The plural of a word being used as a word is indicated by -’s: underline all the but’s. Note that in typed or typeset copy, only the word but would appear in italics (the apostrophe and the s would be in regular type). | 24 |
| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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