Common Grammar Mistakes Part Three: Problematic Plurals

Many people struggle with plurals, and it's no wonder! It's not as simple as adding an 's' to every word. Sometimes you use 'es', and sometimes you change the whole ending of the word. To top that off, the presence of plurals change other words in your sentence, and that can vary depending on the type of plural! This article will provide a brief overview of the basics, then help you with some of the more difficult plural constructions. If you don't know how to make a word plural, check the dictionary.

The Basics

• Most nouns are made plural simply by adding an s to the end.
• For words that end in ch, x, s or s-like sounds, you will need to add an es.
• The above two rules apply to proper names.
• If the word ends in y with a consonant before the y, change the y to ie and add an s. If there is a vowel before the y, simply add s.
• Some plurals will need to be memorized because the ending of the word is changed (knife/knives or child/children)
• The only time an apostrophe is used to make a plural is when you are using lower case letters as a word unto themselves, such as "The typewriter isn't making n's anymore." However, some style guides indicate that you should also use an apostrophe when pluralizing abbreviations (like UFO's) or numbers (like 80's). This is up for debate, so choose which method you like best and be consistent.

Collective Nouns

A collective noun is one that encompasses a group of objects, such as people or things, like class, band, or family. These words are already plural in themselves, but can also be pluralized if you're talking about more than one group. The difficult thing about collective nouns is how to handle the rest of the sentence.

If you are speaking of the group as a whole, or discussing an action that the whole group took, think of the group as a single entity and treat the collective noun as singular. For example:

1. The class was taken on a field trip.

2. The group of nuns was at the church (note: even though nuns is plural, the subject of the sentence is group, and you're speaking of the group as a single unit).

3. The majority was in favor of the resolution.

If you are referring to a group in which individual members are treated separately, treat the collective noun as a plural. Note: this often leads to awkward sentence construction. You might consider rewording the sentence to improve its readability.

1. The band are Paul, Ringo, John, and George.
Alternative: The band members are... or The members of the band are...

2. The herd were scattered across the meadow eating, sleeping, and playing.
Alternative: The horses were scattered...

3. The class received a wide range of scores on their tests.
Alternative: The students in the class received...

Some collective nouns are always plural, such as eyeglasses, pants, and scissors.

Plural Compound Nouns

Compound words often cause confusion when they need to be pluralized. Generally, you will add the s to the element of the compound word that needs to be pluralized, such as "The star was plagued by hangers-on." However, this isn't always the case.
Pluralization isn't a straightforward task, and there are exceptions to every rule. When in doubt, check the dictionary!