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Irregular Plural Nouns

Content Irregular Plural Nouns
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Irregular Plural Nouns
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.1.B

Transcript Irregular Plural Nouns

Irregular Plural Nouns. "Koko, I can't sleep!" "You need to count some sheep." "Ok?" "But, where am I going to get SHEEPS from?" "No, no matter how many there are, it's just SHEEP, and you won't need to count that many before you're sound asleep." A plural noun is a noun that refers to more than one person, place, thing, or idea. Most nouns can be made plural by following one of these rules. Adding an ,(...) like in “balloons” adding an , (...) as in “sandwiches” changing the final to < i> (...) in words like "puppies",... or changing the final to (...)like in "elves." But not all nouns follow these rules. IRREGULAR plural nouns sometimes must be changed in a different way to make them mean more than one. Because plural nouns do not follow the rules, we must memorize them. However, there are some patterns we can learn to help us. Let's take a look at some of the different patterns irregular plural nouns might have. One group of nouns become plural by the changing vowels inside the word. To mean more than one, these nouns change the in the middle of a word to an . For example, "man" becomes "men,"... and "woman" becomes "women". Another set of irregular plural nouns are made by changing the vowels to . We would say one "tooth" but, three "teeth". Other nouns that follow this pattern are foot to feet... and goose to geese. Rule breakers can be tricky! (...)There's even a word that doesn't follow this pattern! It's moose! Moose does not change to meese when talking about more than one! This double rule breaker belongs in the next group of irregular plural nouns—words that stay the same whether singular or plural. We say "moose" whether we are referring to one or twenty moose. "Deer," "fish," and "sheep" are some of the other nouns that stay the same no matter how many there are. The last pattern of irregular plural nouns are words that change their spelling altogether. "Mouse" is an example of this type of noun. To make it plural, we change the word to "mice." "Person" is another word that changes its spelling to a new word. What is the plural of person? We say "people." Knowing these patterns can help us when forming irregular plural nouns. Before we check in to see if Pip fell asleep, let's review. Remember, irregular plural nouns can be changed to make them mean more than one. Some nouns become plural by changing the vowels inside the word. Some nouns stay the same no matter how many, and others change into different words altogether. "What in the world?" "You were right, Koko; counting sheep does put you to sleep!"

Irregular Plural Nouns exercise

Would you like to apply the knowledge you’ve learned? You can review and practice it with the tasks for the video Irregular Plural Nouns .
  • What are plural and irregular plural nouns?

    Hints

    Remember, an irregular plural noun is different than a regular plural noun.

    The word irregular means something that is not regular, and does not follow the rules. Irregular nouns must be changed in different ways than regular nouns.

    Solution

    A plural noun is a noun that refers to more than one person, place, thing, or idea.

    An irregular plural noun must be changed in a different way to make them mean more than one. They do not follow the rules, so we must memorize them.

  • What is the irregular plural form of foot?

    Hints

    The word foot changes to an irregular plural noun by using this pattern.

    "Footes" is not a word.

    Solution

    The irregular plural of foot is feet. This word changes vowels from oo to ee.

  • Which words stay the same regardless of how many there are?

    Hints

    Remember, you are highlighting words that stay the same. For example, the word deer. We use deer when talking about one deer, or many deer.

    Try saying the words out loud in a sentence. For example: I saw one child, I saw many children. With this, we can see that children changes its form from regular to irregular. So, children does not stay the same.

    There are 3 words to highlight.

    Solution

    The words that stay the same regardless of whether the noun is one or more are:

    sheep, moose, and fish.

    These words are used to talk about one, or many. For example:

    Look at this little sheep! We are talking about one sheep.

    Look at all these sheep! We are talking about many sheep.

    The other words on the list all change:

    Child changes to children

    Woman changes to women

    Man changes to men

    Goose changes to geese

  • Match the pairs.

    Hints

    Remember the patterns that some irregular plural nouns follow. Look at this picture to help you.

    Remember that some plural nouns are the same in irregular form. For example: I saw one sheep. I saw many sheep.

    Solution

    The irregular plural of tooth is teeth. The irregular plural of goose is geese

    Both of those words follow the pattern of changing the vowels oo to ee.

    The irregular plural of rice is still rice.

    This word stays the same, like deer or sheep.

    The irregular plural of person is people. The irregular plural of mouse is mice.

    Both of these words change completely.

  • What is the irregular plural form of child?

    Hints

    This word changes its spelling altogether.

    Think about more than one child. If you had more than one child coming over, how would you complete this sentence: "We have some ___ coming over."

    Solution

    The irregular plural form of child is children. This irregular plural noun changes it's spelling altogether.

  • What are the irregular plural nouns?

    Hints

    Remember the patterns we can use to help us memorize irregular plural nouns: some nouns become plural by changing the vowel inside the word, some stay the same, and some change into different words altogether.

    Use this chart to remind you of how we can identify the irregular plural form of a noun.

    Solution

    The irregular plural of fish is fish. This word stays the same.

    The irregular plural of half is halves. The ending changes to -ves.

    The irregular plural of mouse is mice. This word becomes a different word.

    The irregular plural of tooth is teeth. This word changes vowels from oo to ee.

    The irregular plural of woman is women. This word changes vowels from a to e.