Rules for Plurals – s, es, ies, ves

Add s:
For most nouns simply add s.
Examples:
ball – balls,
cat – cats.

For most nouns that end in a vowel + y or o add s.
Examples: boy – boys
radio – radios.

Add es:
For most nouns that end in ch, sh, s, ss, x, z add es.
Examples:
fox – foxes,
dish – dishes,
dress – dresses.

For nouns that end in a consonant + o add s.
Examples:
volcano – volcanoes.

Add ies:
For most nouns that end in a consonant + y add ies.
Examples:
baby – babies.
y – ies.

Add ves for:
For most nouns that end in f or fe.
Examples:
leaf – leaves,
knife – knives.

Updated 07 My 2015 – now includes rules for o/s and o/es

Australian Curriculum alignment

• English > Year 3 > Language > Phonics and word knowledge > ACELA1485

  Understand how to use letter-sound relationships and less common letter patterns to spell wordsElaborationsusing sound and visual spelling strategies to explore less common letter patterns after a sho...

• English > Year 5 > Language > Phonics and word knowledge > ACELA1514

  Explore less common plurals, and understand how a suffix changes the meaning or grammatical form of a wordElaborationsUsing knowledge of word origins and roots and related words to interpret and spell...

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Plurals