-s or -es Add -s to form the plural of most nouns; add - es to singular nouns ending in -s, -sh, -ch, and -x.
| table, tables | church, churches |
| paper, papers | dish, dishes |
Ordinarily add -s to nouns ending in -o when the -o is preceded by a vowel. Add -es when it is preceded by a consonant.
| radio, radios | hero, heroes |
| video, videos | tomato, tomatoes |
final -y When adding -s or -d to words ending in -y, ordinarily change -y to -ie when the -y is preceded by a consonant but not when it is preceded by a vowel.
| comedy, comedies | monkey, monkeys |
| dry, dried | play, played |
With proper names ending in -y, however, do not change the -y to -ie even if it is preceded by a consonant: the Doughertys.
other plurals To form the plural of a hyphenated compound word, add -s to the chief word even if it does not appear at the end.
| mother-in-law, mothers-in-law |
English words derived from other languages such as Latin, Greek, or French sometimes form the plural as they would in their original language.
| medium, media | criterion, criteria | chateau, chateaux |