The sentence

E. Number (singular and plural) (1)
Nouns with plurals ending in –s or –es: ‘friend’, ‘matches’
1. We add –s to form the plural of most nouns.
We pronounce –s as /s/ after these sounds: /f/ chiefs; /k/ cakes; /p/ taps; /t/ pets; /ø/
months.
We pronounce –s as /z/ after these sounds: /b/ verbs; /d/ friends; /g/ bags; /l/ bells;
/m/ names; /n/ lessons; / / songs; vowel (a, e, i, o, u) + s: eyes, or vowel sound + r:
chairs.
2. We add –es after nouns ending in –o: potato –potatoes; -s: class – classes;
-x: box – boxes; -ch: match – matches; -sh: dish – dishes.
We do not pronoune e in plurals like: cakes, clothes, tables, names, eyes.
We pronounce the plural as /iz/ after these sounds:
/z/: noises; /dz/: oranges; /s/: buses; /∫/: dishes; /t∫/: matches; /ks/: boxes.
Nouns with plurals ending in –s or –es: ‘countries’, ‘knives’
1. Consonant (b, c, d, etc.) + -y becomes –ies: country/countries, strawberry/strawberries.
2. Vowel (a, e, o and u) + -y adds an –s: days, keys, boys, guy.
Proper nouns (names spelt with a capital letter) ending in –y just add an –s:
Have you met the Kennedys? The last four Januarys have been very cold.
3. We change the endings –for –fe into –ves in the plural with the following nouns:
calf/calves, half/halves, knife/knives, leaf/leaves, life/lives, loaf/loaves, self/selves,
sheaf/sheaves, shelf/shelves, thief/thieves, wife/wives and wolf/wolves.
4. We add –s or –ves to: hoof – hoofs/hooves, scarf – scarfs/scarves
5. We just add –s to: handkerchief/handkerchiefs, roof/roofs.
Nouns ending in –o and some irregular plural forms
1. To nouns ending in –o, we add –es: hero – heroes, potato – potatoes, tomato – tomatoes.
Or we add –es or –s: cargo – cargoes or cargos, volcano – volcanoes or volcanos.
Or we add only –s: bamboons, photos, pianos, radios, solas, videos, zoos.
2. We change the vowels of some nouns to form the plural: foot/feet, goose/geese,
man/men, mouse/mice, tooth/teeth, woman/women. And note: child/children, ox/oxen.
3. Some nouns have the same in –ese and –ss have the same singular and plural forms:
a Chinese – the Chinese; a Swiss – the Swiss.
F. Number (singular and plural)
Collective nouns followed by singular or plural verbs: ‘government’
1. Words like government and family are collective nouns because they refer to groups.
2. We can use singular or plural verbs with nouns like committee, company, family,
government and jury: What will you be doing while the family is (or are) on holiday?
These words also have regular plurals: Many families are in need of help.
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