Categories of English plurals (from Longman, Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language)

Categories of English plurals (from Longman, Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language)

A) Singular Invariable

non-count nouns (gold)

abstract adjective heads (the unreal)

proper nouns (Henry)

B) Plural Invariable

summation plurals (scissors, pants, gallows)

pluralia tandem in -s (thanks)

unmarked plural nouns (people)

personal adjective heads (the rich)

proper nouns (the Alps)

C) Regular Plurals (add plural morpheme "-S")

/s/ (after unvoiced consonant) (cats)

/z/ after voiced consonant or vowel) (dogs, potatoes)

/w z/ or /b z/ (after sibilant or affricate) (passes, judges, &c.)

D) Irregular Plurals

voicing & -s (calves)

mutation (teeth, feet, mice, lice, geese)

-en (children, oxen, brethren)

zero (sheep, fish, deer, bear, elk, moose, grouse)

[pence, dice]

Latin -i (stimuli)

Latin -ae (larvae)

Latin -a (strata)

Latin -ices (matrices)

Greek -es (theses)

Greek -a (criteria)

French -x or zero (bureaux) (corps)

Italian -i, -e (tempi) (spaghetti, lasagne)

Hebrew -im (cherubim, kibbutzim)

[Arabic truncated] (genie, jinn)