Whether you add es instead of s depends upon whether the s unites readily with the singular ending. Boxs is hard to pronounce; Always keep this idea in What is the plural of box? boxes is easy to pronounce. mind when forming plurals. Do not forget that the vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y. All the other letters in the alphabet are called consonants. It is necessary that you remember this on account of certain rules that are to follow concerning the plural of nouns. Nouns ending in y preceded by a vowel form the plural regularly: valley, valleys delay, delays toy, toys day, days Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant change the y to i and add es: history, histories geography, geographies daisy, daisies enemy, enemies Some nouns ending in ƒ or ƒe change the ƒ to v and add Other nouns ending in ƒ form the plural regularly: shelf, shelves A few nouns form the plural in the old English way, by the addition of en. As: ox, oxen child, children brother, brethren (or brothers) A few nouns form the plurals by changing the vowel or vowels in the word: A few nouns have the same form in the singular and the A few nouns are plural in form but singular in use: Some nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant add es to form the plural, without forming a syllable: All nouns ending in o preceded by a vowel, and some nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant form the plural by adding s to the singular: cameo, cameos ratio, ratios trio, trios memento, mementos domino, dominos Compound nouns ending in ful add s to the last syllable to form the plural: cupful, cupfuls handful, handfuls spoonful, spoonfuls armful, armfuls Letters, figures, and signs form their plurals by adding the apostrophe and the letter s. Dot your i's and cross your t's. Remember your 6's and 7's in multiplication and your +'s and 's in addition and subtraction. Some nouns from foreign languages retain their original form when they become a part of the English language: Either the title or the name may be made plural when names are used with the titles Mr., The Messrs. White Miss, or Master. Mr. White The two Mr. Whites The three Miss Whites Master White The Masters White The two Master Whites Since the title Mrs. cannot be made plural, the s is added to the name in order to make its plural. Select ten of the words in the above list and use them in sentences in their plural form. Write three sentences containing words that possess only a singular form. Write three sentences containing words that are plural in form but singular in meaning. Write three sentences containing the plural form of words whose singular ends in o preceded by a consonant. Take a newspaper or a magazine and find twenty singular nouns and twenty plural nouns. Write them down in separate lists. 15. JOHNNY APPLESEED Away back in 1794 when caravans of pioneers, in their covered wagons, were making their way slowly toward the great Northwest, Jonathan Chapman, a young man of twenty-eight, lived at Pittsburg Landing, where he devoted his time to planting apple trees. Jonathan was a great believer in apple orchards and thought that apple orchards should be planted wherever people settled; so he would carefully save all the seeds from his own orchard and buy seeds from his neighbors in order to be able to give each west-bound family a package of apple seeds. When he had no money to buy seeds, he would peel and core apples for his neighbors, asking no pay except the privilege of keeping the seeds. The busy, pioneer housewives were only too glad to drive such a good bargain. Jonathan's neighbors thought him "queer in the head" because he was willing to give all of his time and money to the development of apple orchards. He was soon nicknamed "Johnny Appleseed." Perhaps the sight of so many families going west made him restless, for he decided to go west himself. In 1806, he lashed together two Indian dugouts, piled them high with appleseeds and, all alone, drifted silently down the Ohio River to Marietta. There he planted another orchard and established a nursery. He would go great distances to plant young trees and would return to care for them. In Illinois on the St. Louis road, there still stands an orchard planted by the queer old nomad, Johnny Appleseed. In 1847 Johnny Appleseed died in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where a small monument marks his resting place. The lonely, fenced plot hardly seems a fitting reminder of one who freely gave forty years of his life to the development of his country. But he has not been forgotten. On the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of his birthday several civic and educational organizations of Chicago joined in an appletree-planting ceremony in the forest preserves. Hundreds of apple trees were planted that day by adults, and thousands of apple seeds by school children. One tree was planted by a descendant of one of the Pilgrims, Elder William Brewster, who planted the first apple tree in the United States. Oral assignment. Perhaps you know someone who serves his country in an unusual way. Select a subject from the list on page 35 and be prepared to talk about it before your class. When you plan your talk, put |