Page 68 - Improve_Your_Written_English [Marion_Field]
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54 / P ART ONE: THE B AS ICS



        Changing ‘y’ to ‘i’
        If a noun ends in ‘y’, and there is a consonant before it, a
        plural is formed by changing the ‘y’ into an ‘i’ and adding
        ‘-es’:


              berry     –     berries
              company   –     companies
              lady      –     ladies
              nappy     –     nappies

        If the ‘y’ is preceded by another vowel, an ‘s’ only is added:

              covey     –     coveys
              monkey    –     monkeys
              donkey    –     donkeys

        Adding ‘es’ or ‘s’
        If a noun ends in ‘o’ and a consonant precedes the ‘o’, ‘-es’ is
        added to form a plural:

              hero      –     heroes
              potato    –     potatoes
              tomato    –     tomatoes

        If there is a vowel before the ‘o’, an ‘s’ only is added:

              patio     –     patios
              studio    –     studios
              zoo       –     zoos

        It would be difficult to add an ‘s’ only to some words because
        it would be impossible to pronounce them. These are words
        that end in ‘ch’, ‘sh’, ‘s’, ‘x’ and ‘z’. In this case an ‘e’ has to
        be added before the ‘s’:
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