Teaching Resource
Rules for Plurals - s, es, ies, ves
A useful poster for explaining some of the different rules for plurals.
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
NSW Curriculum alignment
Victorian Curriculum alignment
- VCELA263
Understand how to use letter–sound relationships and less common letter combinations to spell words
Australian Curriculum alignment
- 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 short vowel, for example words that end in ‘dgeÃ...
- 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 unfamiliar words, and learning about how these ro...

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