July 20, 2021

Noun plurals: cats, dogs, and horses

18 minutes

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks!

This is a lesson about the pronunciation of some plurals in English, with a few numbers thrown in as a bonus. Listen:
I have one cat. Mary has two cats.
John only has one horse. I'm rich: I have (23) twenty-three horses.
Sam has one cow. Sally has three cows.
Listen to the pronunciation of the words as they go from singular to plural:
cat — cats
horse — horses
cow — cows
In each case the written plural is made by adding the letter "S" to the noun. But the pronunciation isn't as simple.
Listen again:
cat — cats (add an 's' sound)
cow — cows (add a 'z' sound)
horse — horses (add an 'uhz' sound)
Let's practice these starting with the 's' sound.
1. cup — cups
Paul had one cup of coffee. I drank twelve cups of coffee.
2. pot — pots
Mary made one pot of tea. I made seven pots of tea.
3. stack — stacks
Harold made one stack of paper. Jane made three stacks of paper.
4. book — books
John has one book. I have thirty-seven (37) books.
5. cake — cakes
Robert wants one big cake for his birthday. I want three huge cakes for my birthday.
Here are some more words that have the /s/ sound for the plural:
hat — hats. One hat, fifteen hats
lock — locks. One lock, forty-two (42) locks
minute — minutes. One minute, sixty (60) minutes
boat — boats. One boat, seventy-nine (79) boats
plant — plants. One plant, thirteen (13) plants
light — lights. One light, eleven (11) lights
Next let's practice with plurals that have the /z/ sound:
6. bird — birds.
I saw one bird. George saw nineteen (19) birds.
7. door — doors
She opened a door. Michael opened twenty-one (21) doors.
8. dog — dogs
I only have one dog. Charlie and his wife have nine dogs. They're crazy.
9. boy — boys, girl — girls
I saw a boy and a girl going for a walk. I saw at least twenty-five (25) boys and girls on the playground.
10. french fry — french fries
She nibbled on a french fry. I ate at least fifty (50) french fries, and now I feel sick.
Here are some more words with the /z/ sound in the plural:
worm — worms
bug — bugs
pig — pigs
plan — plans
plane — planes
car — cars
crater — craters
microphone — microphones
tube — tubes
guy — guys
sky — skies
ball — balls
Finally there are words where the plural is pronounced /IZ/
as in bush — bushes, or fix — fixes. Here are some examples:
11. gas — gases
Oxygen is a gas. Argon, neon, and xenon are three more gases.
12. wish — wishes
Sarah made a wish. Miriam made wishes every night.
13. canvas — canvases
The artist painted my portrait on a small canvas.
A different artist painted portraits of his girlfriend on canvases of every size and shape.
14. quiz — quizzes
Our English teacher gave us a pop [surprise] quiz this morning.
The math teacher liked to give quizzes every few days.
15. tax — taxes
Our town has a sales tax. There are lots of local, state, and federal taxes in the USA.
Here are some more words in this group:
witch — witches
church — churches
wrench — wrenches
crash — crashes
dish — dishes