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Making plurals
cats, buses, boxes, babies, leaves.
Grades 1-5
The rule
Most words just add -s. Add -es when the word ends in s, x, z, ch or sh, because you need the extra syllable to say it.
How it works
| cat → cats | just add s |
| bus → buses | ends in s → add es |
| box → boxes | ends in x → add es |
| church → churches | ends in ch → add es |
| baby → babies | consonant + y → ies |
| leaf → leaves | f → ves |
Watch out for
- Not every f becomes ves: roofs, chiefs, beliefs and cliffs just take an s.
- Words ending in o go both ways: potatoes, heroes, tomatoes take es, but photos, pianos and zeros take s.
- Some plurals change completely: child → children, mouse → mice, foot → feet, tooth → teeth.