plurals

[Anonymous]

Write a rule for making the plurals of words ending with O

 

[RonBee]

Most of the time we add es to pluralize words ending in o: hero, heroes; potato, potatoes; tomato, tomatoes. However, there are plenty of exceptions: halo, halos; cameo, cameos.

Hm.

:?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Write a rule for making the plurals of words ending with O

I agree with Ron, there really are no rules. Memorization is the only reliable method. :roll:

 

[Casiopea]

Write a rule for making the plurals of words ending with O

The following rules are incorrect. Sorry. Please ignore them. The correct information is provided further below in another post, Wed Mar 24, 2004 2:39 am

There are three general rules.

1. Add -es if the word ends in consonant+o:
hero, heroes
potato, potatoes
tomato, tomatoes.

2. Add -s if the word ends in sonorants "lo", "mo", "no":
halo, halos
memo, memos
lino, linos

3. Add -s if the word ends in a vowel+o
cameo, cameos
oreo, oreos
hoe, hoes

All the best,

 

[MikeNewYork]

Write a rule for making the plurals of words ending with O

There are three general rules.

1. Add -es if the word ends in consonant+o:
hero, heroes
potato, potatoes
tomato, tomatoes.

2. Add -s if the word ends in sonorants "lo", "mo", "no":
halo, halos
memo, memos
lino, linos

3. Add -s if the word ends in a vowel+o
cameo, cameos
oreo, oreos
hoe, hoes

All the best,

Those are pretty good, Cas. Still there are so many exceptions. :wink:

 

[RonBee]

Write a rule for making the plurals of words ending with O

There are three general rules.

1. Add -es if the word ends in consonant+o:
hero, heroes
potato, potatoes
tomato, tomatoes.

2. Add -s if the word ends in sonorants "lo", "mo", "no":
halo, halos
memo, memos
lino, linos

3. Add -s if the word ends in a vowel+o
cameo, cameos
oreo, oreos
hoe, hoes

All the best,

Here's another: patio, patios. However, hoe ends in e. :wink:

Also, how about domino? That one (and several others) takes either s or es to make a plural.

 

[Casiopea]

Write a rule for making the plurals of words ending with O

There are three general rules.

1. Add -es if the word ends in consonant+o:
hero, heroes
potato, potatoes
tomato, tomatoes.

2. Add -s if the word ends in sonorants "lo", "mo", "no":
halo, halos
memo, memos
lino, linos

3. Add -s if the word ends in a vowel+o
cameo, cameos
oreo, oreos
hoe, hoes

All the best,

Those are pretty good, Cas. Still there are so many exceptions. :wink:

Are there? Let's look at them. Please, feel free to post them.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Write a rule for making the plurals of words ending with O

There are three general rules.

1. Add -es if the word ends in consonant+o:
hero, heroes
potato, potatoes
tomato, tomatoes.

2. Add -s if the word ends in sonorants "lo", "mo", "no":
halo, halos
memo, memos
lino, linos

3. Add -s if the word ends in a vowel+o
cameo, cameos
oreo, oreos
hoe, hoes

All the best,

Those are pretty good, Cas. Still there are so many exceptions. :wink:

Are there? Let's look at them. Please, feel free to post them.

Well, leaving aside the many that have both -os and -oes endings, here are about 40:

mambo/mambos
gumbo/gumbos
bimbo/bimbos
dumbo/dumbos
gazebo/gazebos
jumbo/jumbos
lobo/lobos
limbo/limbos
mumbo-jumbo/mumbo-jumbos
placebo/placebos
umbo/umbos
turbo/turbos
amigo/amigos
banco/bancos
bunco/buncos
bunko/bunkos
bronco/broncos
calico/calicos
coco/cocos
disco/discos
flamenco/flamencos
loco/locos
politico/politicos
portico/porticos
taco/tacos
tobacco/tobaccos
avocado/avocados
credo/credos
condo/condos
commando/commandos
crescendo/crescendos
hairdo/hairdos
judo/judos
kiddo/kiddos
libido/libidos
rondo/rondos
rancho/ranchos
speedo/speedos
toledo/toledos
tostado/tostados
tournedo/tournedos
weirdo/weirdos

 

[Tdol]

Dos (or do's) and don'ts (or don't's) ;-)

 

[RonBee]

Write a rule for making the plurals of words ending with O

There are three general rules.

1. Add -es if the word ends in consonant+o:
hero, heroes
potato, potatoes
tomato, tomatoes.

2. Add -s if the word ends in sonorants "lo", "mo", "no":
halo, halos
memo, memos
lino, linos

3. Add -s if the word ends in a vowel+o
cameo, cameos
oreo, oreos
hoe, hoes

All the best,

Those are pretty good, Cas. Still there are so many exceptions. :wink:

Are there? Let's look at them. Please, feel free to post them.

Well, leaving aside the many that have both -os and -oes endings, here are about 40:

mambo/mambos
gumbo/gumbos
bimbo/bimbos
dumbo/dumbos
gazebo/gazebos
jumbo/jumbos
lobo/lobos
limbo/limbos
mumbo-jumbo/mumbo-jumbos
placebo/placebos
umbo/umbos
turbo/turbos
amigo/amigos
banco/bancos
bunco/buncos
bunko/bunkos
bronco/broncos
calico/calicos
coco/cocos
disco/discos
flamenco/flamencos
loco/locos
politico/politicos
portico/porticos
taco/tacos
tobacco/tobaccos
avocado/avocados
credo/credos
condo/condos
commando/commandos
crescendo/crescendos
hairdo/hairdos
judo/judos
kiddo/kiddos
libido/libidos
rondo/rondos
rancho/ranchos
speedo/speedos
toledo/toledos
tostado/tostados
tournedo/tournedos
weirdo/weirdos

That's quite a list--quite a long list. Where did you find all those?

 

[Casiopea]

edited

I was hoping for exceptions.

From what I see they all fit into rule 1:

1. Use -s if the word ends in a consonant + o. Error. It should read "Use -es if the word ends in a consonant + o. *This rule is incorrect. Please ignore.

All the best,

 

[MikeNewYork]

I was hoping for exceptions.

From what I see they all fit into rule 1:

1. Use -s if the word ends in a consonant + o.

All the best,

Erm...you now have me confused. Your first rule says:

There are three general rules.

1. Add -es if the word ends in consonant+o:
hero, heroes
potato, potatoes
tomato, tomatoes.

I produced a partial list that had words ending in a consonant + o that formed a plural with -s, not -es. Did I misunderstand? :?:

 

[MikeNewYork]

[
That's quite a list--quite a long list. Where did you find all those?

Well, Cas's rules sounded good, particularly because I was unaware of any regularity for these plurals. But then I thought of several exceptions to rule 1. So I went to onelook.com and searched on [*bos], [*cos], and [*dos]. I stopped there. The hard part was weeding out those that have two accepted plurals, -os and -oes. This is even more complicated because, even when both are accepted, the first (preferred) listing varies between the two spellings with no real rhyme or reason.

I will do more at some other time. :wink:

 

[Casiopea]

I was hoping for exceptions.

From what I see they all fit into rule 1:

1. Use -s if the word ends in a consonant + o.

All the best,

Erm...you now have me confused. Your first rule says:

There are three general rules.

1. Add -es if the word ends in consonant+o:
hero, heroes
potato, potatoes
tomato, tomatoes.

I produced a partial list that had words ending in a consonant + o that formed a plural with -s, not -es. Did I misunderstand? :?:

:lol: No, no. I'm the one who has everyone, including myself, confused. :lol: Sorry about that. :lol: Your list is wonderful, and much needed, too. You've given me some wonderful data to look at, ponder, and play with. Thanks.

Appreciatively,

 

[MikeNewYork]

:lol: No, no. I'm the one who has everyone, including myself, confused. :lol: Sorry about that. :lol: Your list is wonderful, and much needed, too. You've given me some wonderful data to look at, ponder, and play with. Thanks.

Appreciatively,

Phew! You're very welcome. I am a committed word buff. I love to explore little quirks. :wink:

 

[Casiopea]

Write a rule for making the plurals of words ending with O

Hello Thomas,

Sorry about my previous post. It was incorrect. I hope the following information will make up for that.

Is it -os or -oes?

a. For most words that end in -o, simply add -s for the plural form. These include:

1) words of Spanish or Italian origin, especially those connected with music e.g. cello/cellos, piano/pianos, soprano/sopranos, concerto/concertos;

2) words where there is another vowel in front of the -o e.g. studio/studios, patio/patios, zoo/zoos, cuckoo/cuckoos, kangaroo/kangaroos

3) words that are abbreviations e.g. rhino/rhinos (rhino = rhinoceros), hippo/hippos (hippo = hippopotamus), kilo/kilos (kilo = kilogram), photo/photos (photo = photograph)

There are some exceptions.

A) Certain words ending in -o take -es for the plural form. These include: domino/dominoes, echo/echoes, hero/heroes, potato/potatoes, tomato/tomatoes

B) Certain words ending in -o can take either -es or -s. These include:
mango/mangoes (or mangos), mosquito/mosquitoes (or mosquitos), tornado/tornadoes (or tornados), volcano/volcanoes (or volcanos)

All the best,

 

[RonBee]

Good find, Cas!

(Note: dominos or dominoes.)