English
Guidelines for Forming Noun Plurals

• Add s to most nouns; eg., student, students; emotion, emotions; Tuesday, Tuesdays.
• Add es to nouns ending in s, x, z, ch, or sh; eg., mass, masses; box, boxes; Lopez, Lopezes; inch, inches; blush, blushes.
• Change the spelling in irregular noun plurals; eg., woman, women; child, children; goose, geese; louse, lice.
• Add s to nouns that end in y when y is preceded by a vowel; eg., attorney, attorneys; journey, journeys; valley, valleys.
• Drop the y and ies to nouns ending in y when y is preceded by a consonant; eg., company, companies; secretary, secretaries; city, cities.
• Add s to the principal word in most compound expressions; eg., father-in-law, fathers-in-law; runner up, runners up; bill of lading, bills of lading.
• Add s to most numerals, letters of the alphabet, words referred to as words, degrees, and abbreviations; eg., 7, 7s; 1990, 1990s; C, Cs; but, buts; B.A., B.A.s.
• Add ’s only to clarify letters of the alphabet that might be misread, both uppercase; eg., A’s, I’s, M’s, U’s, and lowercase, i’s, p’s, and q’s.
• Collective nouns such as staff, jury, faculty, committee, group, and herd refer to a collection of people, animals, or objects, and may be considered singular or plural depending upon their action; eg., Our group is focused on its work. The jury is divided in its decision, or the jury are divided in their decision. To be clear, however, this sentence sounds better recast: The members of the jury are divided in their decision.