Nouns that do their own thing
A few nouns ignore both rules. They do not add s. They do not add es. They change into a different word.
| One | More than one |
|---|---|
| child | children |
| foot | feet |
| tooth | teeth |
| man | men |
| woman | women |
| mouse | mice |
| goose | geese |
There is no rule to work out here. These words have to be learned one at a time, and you already know most of them from talking.
Watch what happens
Look at “foot” and “feet”. The letters in the middle changed and nothing was added to the end.
Look at “child” and “children”. Something was added, but not an s.
Every one of these is different from the others. That is what makes them tricky to write and easy to say.
Nouns that never change
A few nouns look the same either way.
- one sheep, three sheep
- one deer, three deer
- one fish, three fish
The words around them do the telling. “one sheep” and “three sheep” use the same noun, and the number word makes it clear.
A mistake to watch for
The most common error is putting an s on a word that already changed.
“two childrens” is wrong. “children” already means more than one.
“two toothes” is wrong. The word is “teeth”.
Change the word or add the ending. Never both.
Your turn
Write the word that means more than one.
- “one tooth”
- “one mouse”
- “one deer”
- “one man”
Check your answers
- “teeth”
- “mice”
- “deer”
- “men”
Remember
- Some nouns change into a different word.
- A few stay exactly the same.
- Never add s to a word that already changed.