Nouns: Singular and Plural

knives

Step 1: Look at the ending of 'knife'. It ends in 'fe'. Step 2: The rule says — nouns ending in 'f' or 'fe' change the f/fe to 'ves' to form the plural. Step 3: So, knife → remove 'fe' → add 'ves' → knives. Step 4: 'knifes' is wrong because you cannot simply add 's' to words ending in 'fe'. 'knifees' and 'kniefs' are not real words. Remember: life → lives, wife → wives, thief → thieves follow the same rule.

These scissors are sharp.

Step 1: 'Scissors' is a noun that is always used in the plural form — we never say 'a scissor'. Step 2: Because 'scissors' is plural, we must use the plural pronoun 'these' (not 'this') and the plural verb 'are' (not 'is'). Step 3: The correct sentence is: 'These scissors are sharp.' Step 4: 'These scissor is sharp' — 'scissor' is wrong (it must be scissors) and 'is' is wrong. 'This scissors is sharp' — 'this' and 'is' are singular, but scissors is always plural. 'This scissors are sharp' — 'this' is singular and cannot be used with scissors.

No, the plural of 'photo' is 'photos'

Step 1: The general rule says nouns ending in 'o' add -es (e.g., mango → mangoes, hero → heroes, potato → potatoes). Step 2: However, 'photo' and 'piano' are exceptions to this rule. Step 3: The plural of 'photo' is 'photos' (not 'photoes'), and the plural of 'piano' is 'pianos' (not 'pianoes'). Step 4: These exceptions must be memorised. 'photies' is completely wrong. The option saying 'yes because photo ends in a vowel' is also incorrect — the ending vowel rule does not override the exception for 'photo'.

children

Step 1: 'Child' is an irregular noun. It does not follow the regular rules of adding -s or -es. Step 2: Irregular nouns change their form completely in the plural. Step 3: The plural of 'child' is 'children'. This must be memorised. Step 4: 'childs' and 'childes' are wrong because irregular nouns do not simply add -s or -es. 'childrens' is also wrong — 'children' is already the plural form, and adding 's' again is a common mistake. Never say 'childrens'!