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| Item | Match | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| wife | wives | |
| woman | women |
/wʊmən/ /wɪmɪn/ |
| 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. |
| knife | knives | |
| sheep | sheep | |
| fish | fish | |
| man | men | |
| that | those |
/ðæt/ /ðəʊz/ |
| 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". |
| tooth | teeth |
/tu:θ/ /ti:θ/ |
| mouse | mice | |
| goose | geese | |
| life | lives | |
| wolf | wolves |
/wʊlf/ /wʊlvz/ |
| leaf | leaves | |
| foot | feet | |
| scarf | scarves | |
| half | halves |
BrE - /hɑ:f/ /hɑ:vz/ AmE - /hæf/ /hævz/ |
| this | these |
/ðɪs/ /ði:z/ |
| 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 |
| shelf | shelves |
a thin flat plank of wood, metal, etc., fixed horizontally against a wall, etc., for the purpose of supporting objects |
| child | children |
