How to spell plural nouns easily

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• published: 05 Aug 2015
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Learn and practice how to spell plural nouns easily and correctly in English by watching this lesson. Did you know that there is more to plurals than simply adding an S at the end? For example, the plural of "child" is not "childs". Why? Learn and practice how to spell plural nouns easily and correctly in English by watching this lesson. Then, download my free resource "cheat sheet" about spelling plural nouns at EngVid.com. Remember: You might not always have spell check, and you might need to write notes by hand. Make sure the best spell check is in your brain by learning the proper patterns for spelling plural nouns, as well as the exceptions. Resource: http://www.engvid.com/english-resource/spelling-of-plural-nouns-in-english/ Quiz: http://www.engvid.com/spelling-plural-nouns/ TRANSCRIPT Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid, and this lesson is about spelling. Now, I know that spelling might not necessarily be your favourite subject, but that is exactly why you need this lesson. Also, I do know that there's something in the world called spell check, and that many of you use it, and it's extremely helpful. But spell check doesn't always know exactly which word you need, and you need to know that. So then your knowing spelling is going to make a big difference. Also, there may be the odd times when you don't have a computer around, and you actually have to write something the old-fashioned way with a pen and paper, so at times like that, it's very important to know how to spell. Right? You agree with me, right? Okay. So this particular spelling lesson is going to focus on nouns that are plural. So when we make a noun plural, what do we need to do? Let's have a look. So most of the time, what you need to do is to add an "s". So even though we have this whole chart on the board, just know that most of the time what you have to do is right here, you just need to add an "s". However, there are some other possibilities which we'll learn. So, most of the time, adding an "s". For example: makes "car" into "cars"; "book", "books". Right? There are many, many thousands of other examples. If you have a noun that ends with a vowel plus an "o", then you also add an "s". For example: "radio", "videos". Okay? If you have a noun that ends in a vowel plus a "y", then you have to also add an "s". "Toy" becomes "toys", "day" becomes "days". All right? So that's when you add an "s". Now, when do we add "es"? When a word ends in: "ch", "sh", "ss", "x", or "z" or "z". For example: "churches", "brushes", "dresses", "boxes", or "buzzes". You can almost hear it. Right? It doesn't sound just like an "s". It sounds like a little bit more, and that little bit more is the "es". "Churches", "brushes". Okay? Listen for that. Also, when do we add an "s"? When you have a vowel... Oh, sorry. A word that ends in a consonant plus an "o". For example: "potatoes" or "tomatoes". All right? These are a little bit confusing. Many people get it wrong, so make sure you pay attention here. So here where you had the consonant "t" plus an "o", and we just added "es". All right. Sometimes we need to add "ies". Luckily, not very often. When does that happen? When the word ends in a consonant plus "y". For example: "baby", "babies". All right? It became with an "ies". All right, you're almost done with the exceptions, here. Okay? So, there are some words that end with "f" or "fe", and when that happens, you need to add "ves". So, look at this one: "wife", w-i-f-e becomes "wives", w-i-v-e-s. Or: "thief" which ends in an "f" becomes "thieves". All right? And then you have some words which are complete exceptions. So, in some cases, when they... When we're talking about the exception, the word changes completely. For example: "child" becomes "children", "mouse" becomes "mice", "foot" becomes "feet", "tooth" becomes "teeth". Right? There are many like that. And there are some exceptions where the singular and the plural are both the same, just to confuse you a little bit more but not for too long; now you know. So, we say: "one deer" and "two deer". "One fish" and "two fish". All right? So that's kind of the pattern that there is for exceptions. Now, I know that was kind of a lot to take in, but I also know that practice makes perfect, so that's what we're going to do next. So let's practice together. Number one: "television". How do you make that plural? What do you think? Okay. "Televisions". We just add an "s". "Kiss", do you remember how to make that plural? You get one kiss, but you get two "kisses". Okay? Remember? You can hear it. "Echo", how do we make that plural? It ends in "o", there's a consonant before, so it becomes with an "es": "echoes". "Bottle", how do we make that plural? Just "s". Okay? "Fox" is one of those letters, "x", so we need to add "es". "Fox", "foxes".