1. Take a lesson from: Ahhrnold, the Plural-nator
All the rules and tricks you need to know to form PLURALS.
Take a lesson from: Ahhrnold, the Plural-nator
“I take puny singular nouns and PLURAL-NATE THEM! Ha Ha!”

2. My name is Ahhrnold, the Plural-nator, and I plural-nate puny regular and irregular nouns and transform them into strong plurals.
I do this by adding specific letters
to the end of the singular noun.
BUT! there are rules to follow to
make sure that each noun has its
correct PLURAL FORM.

3. For regular nouns: 2 Rules
Rule #1:For most puny regular nouns
all I do is add an -S at the end to
PUMP THEM UP!
Noun ending
Forming the plural
Examples
consonant
Add -s
cat- cats
chair – chairs
look –looks

4. boss - bosses tax - taxes bush - bushes
Rule #2: For words that end in a "hissing" sound (-s, -z, -x, -ch, -sh), add an -es to form the plural.
Noun ending
Forming the plural
Examples
s, x, ch or sh
Add -es
boss - bosses tax - taxes bush - bushes

5. 7 rules! THAT WAS EASY! HA! BUT! OH!
I love to PLURAL-nate puny SINGULAR
REGULAR NOUNS !!!
BUT! OH!
How I enjoy turning those TRICKY IRREGULAR NOUNS from singular to PLURAL!
They are more CHALLENGING having
7 rules!

6. Rule #1: If the word ends in a consonant plus -y, change the -y into -ie and add an -s to form the plural.
For irregular nouns:
Noun ending Forming the plural Examples
consonant + y
Change y to i then Add -es
fly - flies try - tries curry - curries

7. Rule #2: If the word ends in a vowel plus -y (-ay, -ey, -iy, -oy, -uy), add an -s to the word.
Noun ending Forming the plural Examples
vowel + y
Add -s
key – keys
way - ways boy – boys

8. Rule #3: For words that end in -is, change the -is to -es to make the plural form.
Noun ending Forming the plural Examples
-is
change –is to
-es
thesis - theses

9. Rule #4: Words that end in -f or -fe have plurals that end in -ves.
Noun ending Forming the plural Examples
-f or -fe
change –f or –fe to
-ves
knife - knives
wife – wives
life - lives
elf – elves
shelf – shelves

10. Rule #5: Words that end in -o are formed by either adding -s or by adding -es.
Noun ending Forming the plural Examples -o
add –s or –es
studio - studios
taco – tacos
stereo – stereos
potato – potatoes
tomato – tomatoes

11. Rule #6: words that end with –us change the –us to -i
Noun ending Forming the plural Examples
ends with -us
Change -us to -i
cactus - cacti nucleus - nuclei focus - foci

12. Rule #7: if the word ends with -on change –on to -a
Noun ending Forming the plural Examples
ends with -on
Change -on to -a
phenomenon - phenomena criterion - criteria

13. Change the vowel or Change the word or Add a different ending
AND THEN...
there are those words that don’t have any rules, you just have to memorize them
ALL KINDS
Change the vowel or Change the word or Add a different ending
man – men
foot – feet
child -
children
person –
people
tooth –
teeth
mouse –
mice

14. And some words don’t change at all…
Noun ending Forming the plural Examples
Unchanging
Singular and plural are the same
Sheep
Deer
Fish
Moose
I don’t like those words because I can’t PLURAL-nate them! ARGGGG!!!!

15. Now that you know how to form plurals out of those PUNY singular regular and irregular nouns, you too can be a PLURAL-nator !
Just follow those rules, and if you ever get stuck, check the very strong, the very heavy, DICTIONARY, before I come over there and PLURAL-NATE YOU!!!

16. Other links and activities:
Regular Nouns: Lesson & Activity
Irregular Nouns: Lesson & Activity
Games: