4.1.3: Text- Irregular Plural Nouns

ESOL Intermediate Grammar · LibreTexts

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    Icon of 9 geese flying in a V formation

    Irregular plurals, unlike regular plurals, don’t necessarily follow any pattern, and require a lot of memorization. Mastering this type of pluralization uses a different region of your brain than regular pluralization, meaning it’s an entirely different skill set than regular pluralization. So don’t get too frustrated if you can’t remember the correct plural. If you’re ever in doubt, the dictionary is there for you. Below are some common patterns in irregular plural nouns.

    No Change (Base Plurals)

    In some words, the singular form is used for both singular and plural.

    • fish
    • deer
    • sheep
    • series
    Note: The plural for a computer mouse (as opposed to the animal) can either be mice or mouses. Some people prefer mouses to differentiate between the two words.

    Vowel Changes

    In some words double "o" changes to double"ee."

    • foot→ feet
    • goose → geese

    Plural –en

    • child → children
    • ox → oxen

    Exercise 1.9

    What are the correct plurals for the following words? You may need a dictionary to complete the chart.

    Singular Plural Singular Plural
    1. goose   5. moose  
    2. fish   6. child  
    3. man   7. tooth  
    4. mouse   8. foot  
    Practice Irregular Plural Nouns with this link: Turtle Diary-Irregular-Plural Nouns / Explanation:Revision and Adaptation. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike / Irregular Plural Nouns. Authored by: Julie Sevastopoulos. Provided by: Grammar-Quizzes.com. Located at: Grammar Quizzes-agree License: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike / Irregular plural nouns - the Mutant Plurals Authored by: David Rheinstrom. Provided by: Khan Academy. Located at: Irregular Plural Nouns. License: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike / Image of geese. Authored by: Sarah JOY. Provided by: The Noun Project. Located at: Geese License: CC BY: Attribution

    This page titled 4.1.3: Text- Irregular Plural Nouns was last modified on Sun, 28 Dec 2025 04:10:21 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Allyson Marceau.