Plurals/Vowel Change -Number-Gender - Noun-Parts Of Speech-ESL/Learn English Grammar

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II. Plurals formed by Vowel Change.


40. Examples of this inflection are,--

man--men

foot--feet

goose--geese

louse--lice

mouse--mice

tooth--teeth


Some other words--as _book_, _turf_, _wight_, _borough_--formerly had

the same inflection, but they now add the ending _-s_.



41. Akin to this class are some words, originally neuter, that have

the singular and plural alike; such as _deer_, _sheep_, _swine_, etc.


Other words following the same usage are, _pair_, _brace_, _dozen_,

after numerals (if not after numerals, or if preceded by the

prepositions _in_, _by_, etc, they add _-s_): also _trout_, _salmon_;

_head_, _sail_; _cannon_; _heathen_, _folk_, _people_.


The words _horse_ and _foot_, when they mean soldiery, retain the

same form for plural meaning; as,--


The _foot_ are fourscore thousand,

The _horse_ are thousands ten.

--MACAULAY.

Lee marched over the mountain wall,--

Over the mountains winding down,

_Horse_ and _foot_, into Frederick town.

--WHITTIER.



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