A Plurality of Plural Forms

Mostly we just add an "s" to the end of a noun to pluralize it, but like everything else in the English language, there are plenty of exceptions.

Mother-in-law, attorney general, commander-in-chief et al are all examples of a noun followed by an adjective or adjective phrase. We can't pluralize an adjective, so we must pluralize the noun, so it's not "Mother-in-laws", it's "Mothers-in-law".

Singular words that end with an "s", "sh"or "ch"sound, such as boss, box, wish, or church, are pluralized by adding "es" to the end (bosses, boxes, wishes, churches).

Latin words, such as "bacteria", follow their own unique rules. "Bacteria" is actually the plural form of the singular (and not often used by laypeople) "Bacterium". Some other examples are:

• Analysis, parenthesis, and axis are pluralized by changing the last "i" in the word to an "e". In other words, a single parenthesis becomes a pair of parentheses, ending with the "ease" sound.

• Nebula and Formula become Nebulae and Formulae, ending with the "eye" sound.

• Vortex and index become Vortices and Indices (but, really, no one should rag on you if you say Vortexes and Indexes).

Nouns that are abbreviated using acronyms, such as TV or ATM, are pluralized by adding a lower-case "s" at the end without an apostrophe, such as TVs and ATMs.

Nouns ending with a consonant followed by a "y" are pluralized by replacing the y with "ies", so "Puppy" becomes "Puppies". Words ending with a noun followed by a "y" are pluralized by simply adding an "s", such as "keys".

Most nouns ending in "f" are pluralized by changing the "f" to "ves". Therefore, "Wolf" becomes "Wolves" and "Leaf" becomes "Leaves" (unless you play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. What's up with that?). However, some words retain their "f" ending and an "s" is added to the end, such as "roofs" and "chefs"

Some words don't change from singular to plural. You can have one sheep or 100 sheep; one aircraft or 20 aircraft.

Then there are words where the rules are just made up. "Irregular nouns" play by their own idiosyncrasies . Tooth becomes Teeth, Mouse become Mice, and Woman becomes Women (and why is the "o"pronounced like an "i"?).

Never, never pluralize a word by adding

an apostrophe followed by an "s".

See The inappropriate use of apostrophes