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Irregular Plurals |
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Activity SmartMemo
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Activity SmartMemo
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Practise the irregular plurals until you master them all. Here you will find almost all the normal irregular plurals used in normal English.
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Instructions
1- Look at the words and think of its singular/plural form 2- Move your mouse over the black button to check your answer. 3- If you were right click on the green button, if wrong, click on the red.Items
| Item | Match | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| alumna | alumnae |
/əlʌmnə/ /əlʌmni:/ (formal) a female university student |
| alumnus | alumni |
/əlʌmnəs/ /əlʌmnaɪ/ (formal) a male university student |
| antenna | antennae |
/æntenə/ /ænteni:/ The irregular form is used in biology: most insects have a pair of antennae on their heads The regular form is used for aerials catching radar signals: I can't see the TV well though I bought two antennas |
| appendix | appendices |
/əpendɪks/ /əpendɪsi:z/ A collection of supplementary material, usually at the end of a book. Also a little wormlike tube at the end of the large intestine. When it gets infected you have "appendicitis" and they must remove it. |
| automaton | automata |
a robot /ɔ:tɒmətən/ /ɔ:tɒmətə/ plural also AUTOMATONS |
| axis | axes |
A straight line about which a body or geometric object rotates or may be conceived to rotate. /æksɪs/ /æksi:z/ |
| brother | brethren |
If we use "brother" in a normal way (someone who has the same father and/or mother than me) then it is regular: brothers. If we use "brother" in a metaphorical way, to refer to people who belong to the same spiritual community as you, then we often use the irregular form "brethren" My dear brethren, you know that God asked you to love one another |
| cactus | cacti |
plural also: CACTUSES /kæktəs/ /kæktəsɪz/ /kæktaɪ/ |
| calf | calves |
CALF= A young cow or bull / The fleshy muscular back part of the human leg between the knee and ankle. BrE - /kɑ:f/ /kɑ:vz/ AmE - /kæf/ /kævz/ |
| cherub | cherubim |
plural also CHERUBS /tʃerəb/ /tʃerəbɪm/ in Christianity, a member of the second order of angels, whose distinctive gift is knowledge, often represented as a winged child or winged head of a child. (word of Hebrew origin) |
| child | children | |
| corpus | corpora |
CORPUS= collection of writings on a subject; writings by an author or group of authors: The corpus of Shakespeare's works. A collection of utterances, as spoken or written sentences, taken as a representative sample of a given language or dialect and used for linguistic analysis: I often check doubts with the corpus of Oxford University. |
| crisis | crises |
/kraɪsɪs/ /kraɪsi:z/ |
| criterion | criteria |
a standard by which something can be judged or decided /kraɪtɪərɪən/ /kraɪtɪərɪə/ |
| datum | data |
DATUM= a single piece of information /dɑ:təm/ /dɑ:tə/ also: /deɪtəm/ /deɪtə/ But very often we use DATA both for singular and plural: This data/datum is very important for me |
| deer | deer | |
| die | dice |
/daɪ/ /daɪs/ A die is a small cube with numbers (usually dots) from 1 to 6 on every side, and it is used to get a random number in many games. Anyway, it is also very common to use DICE both for singular and plural: one dice, two dice. |
| elf | elves |
A small, often mischievous creature considered to have magical powers. Other similar creatures: dwarf, leprechaun, gnome |
| fish | fish | |
| foot | feet | |
| fungus | fungi |
Some kind of organism which is often thought of as "plants" but they are not, because they have no chlorophile and they reproduce by spores. They may be big, such as mushrooms, or microscopic. Plural also FUNGUSES FUNGUS /fʌŋgəs/ FUNGUSES /fʌŋgəsɪz/ FUNGI /fʌŋgaɪ/ /fʌndʒaɪ/ /fʌndʒɪ/ (yea, a big choice) |
| genus | genera |
/dʒi:nəs/ /dʒenərə/ the usual major subdivision of a biological family or subfamily in the classification of organisms, usu. consisting of more than one species: There are many species of dogs but they all belong to the genus 'canis' |
| goose | geese | |
| half | halves |
BrE - /hɑ:f/ /hɑ:vz/ AmE - /hæf/ /hævz/ |
| hoof | hooves |
The hard foot of some animals, for example a horse |
| index | indices |
/indeks/ /ɪndɪsi:z/ |
| knife | knives | |
| leaf | leaves | |
| life | lives | |
| loaf | loaves |
A shaped mass of bread baked in one piece. A loaf is the complete thing made of bread, and when you eat, you break it into pieces of bread. So you usually buy, for example, two loaves, or two loaves of bread, you never buy a piece of bread. |
| louse | lice |
/laʊs/ /laɪs/ A louse is a very small insect which sometimes parasites the head of people, hiding among their hair. |
| man | men | |
| matrix | matrices |
/meɪtrɪks/ /meɪtrɪsi:z/ also: /mætrɪks/ /mætrɪsi:z/ |
| medium | media | |
| millenium | millenia | |
| mouse | mice | |
| ovum | ova |
/əʊvəm/ /əʊvə/ The mature reproductive cell of female animals, produced in the ovaries. Also the little eggs of some animals, for example fish. |
| ox | oxen |
An adult castrated bull (they castrate them to make them milder and stronger) |
| penny | pence |
In the UK a pound has 100 pence, though very often people simply say "p": 1p /pi:/ 2p /pi:/ In America "penny" is a colloquial word for "cent", and the plural is "pennies". |
| person | people |
Some speakers of other languages (especially Spanish") often use "people" in the singular: In Mexico people is very nice This is wrong, since "people" is an irregular plural and it should be: In Mexico people are very nice Now, the word "people" can also mean "nation", and in that case it is a regular word: people - peoples Moses said to the Pharaoh: Let my people go His majesty, the people is tired of this war. Today is a great day for all the peoples in the world |
| phenomenon | phenomena |
An occurrence, circumstance, or fact that is perceptible by the senses (= an event). An extraordinary occurrence (= a marvel). /fɪnɒmɪnən/ /fɪnɒmɪnə/ |
| quantum | quanta |
/kwɒntəm/ /kɒntə/ a. the smallest quantity of some physical property, such as energy, that a system can possess according to the quantum theory
b. a particle with such a unit of energy |
| radius | radii |
/reɪdɪəs/ /reɪdɪaɪ/ a straight line joining the centre of a circle or sphere to any point on the circumference or surface |
| samurai | samurai |
/sæmjʊraɪ/ |
| scarf | scarves | |
| self | selves |
Your self is your essence, your true being. We most often use it in compounds: myself, yourself... themselves She pretends to care about people but that's not her true self I think he's a bit crazy, I saw him talking to himself in the bar |
| seraph | seraphim |
plural also SERAPHS /serəf/ /serəfɪm/ An angel having three pairs of wings (word of Hebrew origin) |
| series | series |
/sɪəri:z/ This TV series is very funny I think all series are rubbish |
| serum | sera |
The clear yellowish fluid obtained upon separating whole blood into its solid and liquid components after it has been allowed to clot. Also called blood serum. |
| sheaf | sheaves |
/ʃi:f/ /ʃi:vz/ a bundle of objects tied together: a sheaf of papers |
| sheep | sheep | |
| shelf | shelves |
a thin flat plank of wood, metal, etc., fixed horizontally against a wall, etc., for the purpose of supporting objects |
| species | species |
/spi:ʃɪz/ This species of frog is very rare How many species of animals are going extinct every year? |
| spectrum | spectra | |
| stratum | strata |
/strɑ:təm/ /strɑ:tə/ A layer of sedimentary rock whose composition is more or less the same throughout and that is visibly different from the rock layers above and below it. |
| swine | swine |
swine /swaɪn/ = pig |
| that | those |
/ðæt/ /ðəʊz/ |
| this | these |
/ðɪs/ /ði:z/ |
| tooth | teeth |
/tu:θ/ /ti:θ/ |
| wife | wives | |
| wolf | wolves |
/wʊlf/ /wʊlvz/ |
| woman | women |
/wʊmən/ /wɪmɪn/ |
Total number of items: 62