Number (Angka dalam bahasa Inggris)

Number

Number tells us whether there is just one thing or more than one. In English the formation of plurals is simpler than in many other languages.

It is a good idea, especially for younger and ESL students, to explain the various ways in which we make plurals, as they can cause some confusion.


1.  For most nouns, we just add ‘s’ to form the plural.
     For example:
       one hat two hats
       one fire five fires

2. For some words it is difficult to add ‘s’ alone – try saying box with just ‘s’ on the end. For such words, we insert the vowel sound ‘e’ for ease of pronunciation.
    For example:
    one box two boxes
    one lunch two lunches

3. Although our language has been simplified in many ways over time, some old forms have stayed, largely due to earlier pronunciation. Among these are a number of words in which the inside vowel changes between singular and plural. These just have to be learnt.
    For example:
    one man  two men
    one mouse  three mice

4. We also have plurals made by adding ‘en’.
    For example:
    one chick ten chickens
    one ox a team of oxen

 Other examples of irregular plurals include:
child - children
die - dice
leaf - leaves
sheep - sheep
woman - women
foot - feet
goose - geese

 ESL students need to learn these especially, as they may not be familiar with hearing them spoken.