lesson
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Imagine walking into a room and seeing one cute puppy, but when you open the door wider, you spot six of them running toward you!
A singular noun names one person, place, or thing, while a plural noun names more than one.
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For most everyday words, turning one thing into many only takes a single extra letter.
The General Rule: Adding -s
Under the General Rule, form the plural of most regular singular nouns by adding the suffix -s to the base word.
For instance, sticker becomes stickers, and plant becomes plants.
Notice that the original root word does not change. This is known as Base Word Preservation: when forming regular plurals with -s and -es, the base word spelling remains intact without dropping or rearranging letters.
๐Interactive diagram
Try saying the word "boxs" or "brushs" out loudโfeels almost impossible to pronounce that ending smoothly, doesn't it?
The Hissing Rule: Adding -es
There is a clear Phonological Justification for this: adding -es creates an extra pronounced syllable (sounding like /ษชz/ or /ษz/), which prevents unpronounceable consonant clusters like dishs or boxs.
Under the Hissing Rule, add -es to singular nouns ending in s, x, z, ch, or sh (e.g., bus โ buses, fox โ foxes, buzz โ buzzes, lunch โ lunches, and dish โ dishes).