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# plural

«plural» in Mova's school dictionary: **the plural of «cat»** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a plural, plurals; the plural); adjective (plural)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Plural means more than one: «cats» is the plural of «cat». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plural/#m1)

2) The plural of a word is the form it takes when it means more than one. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plural/#m2)

3) (formal) Plural can also mean having many kinds or groups living together, as in «a plural society». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plural/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In English grammar lessons pupils learn plural rules: add «-s» (dog, dogs), add «-es» after s, x, z, ch, sh (box, boxes), change «y» to «ies» (baby, babies), «f» to «ves» (leaf, leaves), and learn irregular plurals (child – children, mouse – mice, foot – feet, sheep – sheep). Phrases: «singular and plural», «in the plural», «plural noun», «plural verb». In maths word problems, a plural noun shows there is more than one thing.

### examples

- «Cats» is the plural of «cat». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plural/#x1)
- What is the plural of «mouse»? It is «mice». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plural/#x2)
- «Sheep» is the same in the singular and the plural. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plural/#x3)
- Add «-es» to make the plural of «box». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plural/#x4)
- «We» and «they» are plural pronouns. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plural/#x5)
- The plural of «baby» is «babies». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plural/#x6)
- Use a plural verb with a plural subject: «The dogs bark». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plural/#x7)
- The word «scissors» is always plural. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plural/#x8)
- [The word terem (plural terema) which occurs twice in this story (rendered the second time by "chamber") deserves a special notice. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plural/#x9)

### note

Opposite: «singular» (just one). Traps: «data» and «media» are old plurals; «news» looks plural but takes a singular verb («the news is good»). Some words have no plural («water», «furniture»). An apostrophe does not make a plural: write «apples», not «apple's». In maths problems, a plural word does not tell you how many; read the number.

### In the corpora

- [An apostrophe never makes a plural.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/6-spelling-plurals/14/)
- [Singular means one; plural means more than one.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/6-spelling-plurals/17/)
- [Most nouns add -s for the plural: cat, cats.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/6-spelling-plurals/18/)
- [Some nouns are the same in the plural: sheep, deer, moose, aircraft, and usually fish.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/6-spelling-plurals/24/)
- [Some words from Latin have old plurals (cactus/cacti, fungus/fungi); the English plural is often accepted too.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/6-spelling-plurals/25/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «plural» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plural/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.