Page 232 - Basic English Usage

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302 singular and plural: pronunciation of plural nouns

The plural ending -(e)s has three different pronunciations.

After one of the ‘sibilant’ sounds /s/, /2/, /§/, /3/, Af/ and /d3/, -es is
pronounced /iz/.
buses /basiz/ crashes /"kreejiz/ watches /wotfiz/
quizzes /‘kwiziz/_ garages /"geera:31z/ ~—— bridges /"brid3iz/
After any other ‘unvoiced’ sound (/p/, /f/, /@/, A/ or /kK/), -(e)s is
pronounced /s/.
cups /kaps/ baths/ba:8s/_ —_ books/buks/
coughs /kofs/ _ plates /pleits/

After all other sounds (vowels and voiced consonants except /z/, /3/ and
/d3/), -(e)s is pronounced /2/.
days /deiz/ knives /naivz/ hills /pulz/ dreams /dri:mz/
boys /boiz/ clothes /klaudz/ ~—fegs/legz/ ~~ songs /sonz/
trees /tri:z/ ends /endz/
Exceptions:
house /haus/ houses /havziz/ mouth /mav®/ mouths /mavdz/
Third-person singular verbs (for example watches, wants, runs) and
possessives (for example George’s, Mark’s, Joe’s) follow the same
pronunciation rules.

303 singular and plural: irregular plurals

The most common words with irregular plurals are:
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
calf calves series series child children
half halves analysis analyses
knife knives basis bases sheep sheep
leaf leaves crisis crises fish fish
life lives aircraft aircraft
loaf loaves cactus cacti
self selves fungus fungi
shelf shelves nucleus nuclei
thief thieves radius radii
wife wives
bacterium bacteria
foot feet
tooth teeth vertebra vertebrae
goose geese
man men criterion criteria
woman women phenomenon phenomena
mouse mice