Grade 2 English Irregular Nouns – Plurals Of Irregular Nouns Notes
Irregular Nouns — Plurals Of Irregular Nouns
Plural words tell us there is more than one. Many nouns add -s or -es, but some are irregular — they change in other ways. Here are easy rules and examples for class 1–3 (age 7).
1. Change the middle vowel
Some words change a vowel to make the plural:
- man → men (👨 → 👨👨)
- woman → women (👩 → 👩👩)
- tooth → teeth (🦷 → 🦷🦷)
- foot → feet (👣 → 👣👣)
- mouse → mice (🐭 → 🐭🐭)
- goose → geese (🪿 → 🪿🪿)
2. Add -ren
Only a few use -ren:
- child → children (👦 → 👦👦)
3. Change -f or -fe to -ves
Some words change the end:
- leaf → leaves (🍃 → 🍃🍃)
- knife → knives (🔪 → 🔪🔪)
- life → lives (life → lives)
4. Same word for singular and plural
These words stay the same when there is one or many:
- sheep → sheep (🐑 → 🐑🐑)
- fish → fish (🐟 → 🐟🐟)
- deer → deer (🦌 → 🦌🦌)
5. Special forms
- ox → oxen (used on farms) 🐂 → 🐂🐂
- person → people (person → people)
Short sentences (read and see)
Singular: The child has one book. 📚
Plural: The children have two books. 📚📚
Singular: One sheep is in the field. 🐑
Plural: Many sheep are in the field. 🐑🐑🐑
Try it! Write the plural
- 1 cat → __________
- 2 man → __________
- 3 child → __________
- 4 tooth → __________
- 5 sheep → __________
- 6 knife → __________
- 7 ox → __________
- 8 mouse → __________
(Answers are below — check when you are done.)
Answers
- 1 cat → cats
- 2 man → men
- 3 child → children
- 4 tooth → teeth
- 5 sheep → sheep
- 6 knife → knives
- 7 ox → oxen
- 8 mouse → mice
Tip for learners: practise by looking around — count animals, shoes or people and say the plural out loud. Learning irregulars takes practice, but you will get them with time!