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Irregular Plurals

Irregular Plurals
Activity SmartMemo
Activity SmartMemo
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/  /əlʌmn/
(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 /krsɪs/  /krsi: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: /dtəm/  /dtə/
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 /mtrɪks/  /mtrɪsi: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 /rdɪəs/  /rdɪaɪ/
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
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