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English Grammar Drills

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10 Noun Phrases<br />

Seven words form their plural by a vowel change alone:<br />

Singular<br />

foot<br />

goose<br />

louse<br />

man<br />

mouse<br />

tooth<br />

woman<br />

Plural<br />

feet*<br />

geese<br />

lice<br />

men<br />

mice<br />

teeth<br />

women**<br />

Notes: *In addition to the usual plural form feet, the noun foot has a second plural form foot<br />

when we use the word to refer to length or measurement. For example:<br />

I bought a six foot ladder.<br />

He is six foot three inches tall.<br />

**Despite the spelling of women, it is the pronunciation of the first syllable rather than the second<br />

that changes: woman is pronounced /wo mǝn/; women is pronounced /wI mǝn/; the second syllables,<br />

-man and -men, are pronounced exactly alike with an unstressed vowel /mǝn/.<br />

Two words retain an old plural ending, -en:<br />

Singular<br />

ox<br />

child<br />

Plural<br />

oxen<br />

children<br />

The long vowel in the singular child also changes to a short vowel in the first syllable of the plural<br />

children.<br />

Some words ending in f form their plurals by changing the f to v and adding -es. Here are the<br />

most common words that follow this pattern:<br />

Singular<br />

half<br />

knife<br />

leaf<br />

life<br />

loaf<br />

self<br />

Plural<br />

halves<br />

knives<br />

leaves<br />

lives<br />

loaves<br />

selves

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