1. Escuela de Educación Continua
Repaso para la Prueba de Evaluación
y Admisión Universitaria
(College Board)
INGLÉS
Parts of The Speech
Plural Nouns
Preparado por
Prof. Carmen Cembalest, Enero 1994
Revisado por
Prof. Thelvenitsie Hernández, Junio 2006

2. Este manual es propiedad del Campus Virtual de la Escuela
de Educación Continua de la Universidad Metropolitana. El
mismo no puede ser reproducido parcial ni totalmente sin la
autorización expresa del Decano Asociado del Campus Virtual
de la Escuela de Educación Continua de la
Universidad Metropolitana.
Escuela de Educación Continua de UMET, enero 2012

3. 2. Plural Forms of Nouns:
Nouns can be singular or plural. There are several rules that you should follow when
changing a noun from singular to plural form.
1. General rule: most nouns form the plural by adding –s.
Example: girl - girls
window – windows
2. ES rule: nouns ending in s, ss, sh, ch, z, or x form the plural by adding es.
Example: bus – buses
church – churches
3. Consontant + y: nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant, form that
plural by changing y to i and adding es.
Example: story – stories
lady – ladies
4. Vowel + y: nouns ending in y preceded by a vowel form the plural by adding
s.
Example: boy – boys
toy – toys
5. Vowel + o: nouns ending in o preceded by a vowel, form the plural by adding
s.
Example: radio – radios
patio – patios
6. Consonant + o: nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant add es to form
the plural. (Except in musical terms)
Example: tomato – tomatoes
hero – heroes
Exception: piano – pianos
solo – solos
7. F or FE rule: nouns ending in F or FE change to VES to form the plural.
Example: leaf – leaves
shelf – shelves
life – lives

4. Exceptions: sheriff – sheriffs
staff – staffs
roof – roofs
belief – beliefs
safe – safes
chief – chiefs
8. Compound nouns: they form the plural in the first word when separated by a
hyphen. Compound nouns written as one word or as two separate words
form the plural in the last word.
Example: mother-in-law – mothers-in-law
brother-in-law – brothers-in-law
birdhouse – birdhouses
high school – high schools
9. Irregular Plural Forms:
Examples: child – children mouse – mice
man – men goose – geese
woman – women foot – feet
ox – oxen tooth – teeth
10. Some nouns keep the same form in both singular and plural.
Examples: fish, sheep, Chinese, deer, series, salmon, moose, trout, fowl
Practice Exercise II
Choose the correct plural form for the following sentences.
1. Those are sharp _____________________________.
a. knifes
b. knives
c. knife
d. knifs
2. The __________________ are yelling out loud.
a. children
b. childrens
c. childes
d. childs

5. 3. There are three ___________________ around the corner.
a. laundrys
b. laundries
c. laundryies
d. laundryes
4. My father bought three __________________ of bread.
a. loaves
b. loafs
c. loafes
d. loafies
5. My car killed two ________________________.
a. mouses
b. mouse
c. mice
d. mices
6. How many ________________________did you put in the stew?
a. potato
b. potatos
c. potatoses
d. potatoes
7. My two _____________________ visited us last month.
a. sister-in-law
b. sisters-in-law
c. sisters-in-laws
d. sister-in-law
8. There are many _______________ restaurants in my town.
a. Chinese
b. Chineses
c. Chineseses
d. Chinesies

6. 9. I put the ________________________ in the sink.
a. dishes
b. dishies
c. disheses
d. dishs
10. The two ____________________ performed beautifully.
a. sopranoes
b. sopranos
c. sopranoses
d. sopranosies
11. The man had three ____________________.
a. wife
b. wifes
c. wives
d. wiveses
12. The singer sang two ____________________ at the concert.
a. soloes
b. solos
c. soloses
d. solo
13. They found some _______________________ in the basement.
a. boxes
b. boxesses
c. boxies
d. boxeses
14. She wants to eat some __________________________.
a. sandwich
b. sandwichs
c. sandwiches
d. sandwichies

7. 15. How many ______________________ are there in your department?
a. attorneys-at-laws
b. attorneys-at-law
c. attorneies-at-laws
d. attorney-at-law
16. Mary drank four ______________________ of water after dinner.
a. glasses
b. glass
c. glassies
d. glasseses
17. My neighbor cut all the ______________________ around his house.
a. busheses
b. bush
c. bushes
d. bushies
18. He had to feed all of the _______________________________.
a. monkies
b. monkeyes
c. monkey
d. monkeys
3. Possessive Form of Nouns: Nouns also indicate possession or ownership.
a. To form the possessive of a singular or plural noun not ending in S, add an
apostrophe and s. (‘s)
Examples: Marta’s book
The children’s toys
b. To form the possessive of a singular or plural noun ending in s. add
apostrophe after the s. (s’)
Examples: Charles’ car
The boys’ shirts
c. When referring to inanimate objects, use the of phrase.
Correct: The roof of the house.
Incorrect: The house’s roof.

8. Practice Exercise III
Choose the correct possessive form of the noun.
1. The ___________________ is holding a meeting at the San Juan Hotel.
a. women club’s
b. women’s club
c. womens’ club
d. women’s club’s
2. The _____________________ looks dirty.
a. floor’s carpet
b. carpet’s floor
c. carpet of the floor
d. floors’ carpet
3. _______________________ is brand new.
a. Maria car’s
b. Maria’s car
c. Maria’s car’s
d. car of Maria
4. The ___________________ are empty.
a. babies’ bottles
b. babie’s bottles
c. babies’ bottles’
d. babies bottles’
5. ___________________ house is near ours.
a. Carmen’s and Pedro’s
b. Carmen’s and Pedro
c. Carmen’s and Pedros’
d. Carmen and Pedro’s
6. ______________________ are expensive.
a. men’s shoes
b. shoes of the men
c. mens’ shoes
d. men’s shoes’
7. He talked to my __________________________.
a. father-in-law’s lawyer
b. father’s-in-law lawyer
c. father-in-laws’ lawyer
d. father-in-law’s lawyer’s

9. 8. ________________________ is an executive secretary.
a. Manuel’s wife’s
b. Manuel’s wife
c. Manuel wife’s
d. Manuels’ wife
9. The _________________________ dresses cost a lot of money.
a. ladie’s dresses
b. ladies’ dresses’
c. ladies dresses’
d. ladies’ dresses
10. The ________________________ are loose.
a. book’s pages
b. books’ pages
c. pages of the book
d. pages’ of the book
11. Those are my ________________________.
a. student’s notebooks
b. students’ notebooks
c. students’ notebooks’
d. students notebooks’
12. The _____________________ is locked.
a. bathroom’s door
b. door of the bathroom
c. door’s of the bathroom
d. bathrooms’ door
13. ___________________________ is near our.
a. Paula house’s
b. Paula’s house
c. Paula’s house’s
d. house of Paula
14. The ______________________ are on the table.
a. women’s umbrella
b. women’s umbrella’s
c. women umbrella’s
d. umbrellas of the women
15. ______________________ was wrecked.
a. Charles’ s car
b. Charles’ car’s
c. Charles’ car
d. Charles car’s

10. 16. The ______________________ is very high.
a. house of the ceiling
b. ceiling of the house
c. ceiling’s house
d. house’s ceiling
17. __________________ is an engineer.
a. Maria’s husband
b. Maria’s husband’s
c. husband of Maria
d. Maria husband’s
18. _____________________ rented a house at the beach.
a. Mr. Arias’s daughters’
b. Mr. Arias’ daughters
c. Mr. Arias daughters’
d. Mr. Arias’ daughters’
I.