Spelling Nouns

1. Adding –s to nouns

Most nouns simply add an –s to form the plural

book → books,

computer → computers,

cat → cats, edge → edges

The exceptions are:

Add –es to nouns ending in:

–s or –ss: bus → buses, business → businesses

–x: tax → taxes, fox → foxes, box → boxes

–ch: church → churches, match → matches except: stomach → stomachs

–sh: leash → leashes, dish → dishes

Nouns ending in –o can add either –s or –es

zero → zero s, studio → studios, potato → potatoes, tomato → tomatoes

But: ghetto → ghettos/ghettoes, flamingo → flamingos/flamingoes

Nouns that end in a consonant + -y change the –y to –ies

baby → bab ies, story → stories, country → countries 

Nouns that end in a vowel + -y (-ay/-ey/ -oy/ –uy) only add –s

monkey → monkey s, tray → trays, toy → toys, day → days

Nouns that end in –f or –fe change to –ves

knife → kni ves, half → halves