What you need to know about plurals & possessives:

Plurals

• Common nouns

  • Default —> add -s

  • Ends in a vowel + y —> add -s

  • Ends in a consonant + y —> remove the y and add -ies

  • Ends in a consonant + o —> add -es*

  • Ends in s, x, ch, sh, h, or z —> add -es*

  • Ends in f or fe —> remove the f/fe and add -ves*

  • * Memorize words that defy the rules above

• Proper nouns

  • Same rules as above except …

  • End in -y —> add -s

Possessives

• Common nouns

• Singular and doesn’t end in -ess —> add ’s

• Plural and doesn’t end in -s —> add ’s

• Plural and ends in -s —> add ’

• Proper nouns

  • Singular words —> add ’s

  • Plural —> add ’

Awkward Sentences. Avoid words that sound awkward by rewriting the sentence to a simpler sentence.

Meaning. Whatever you do, be thoughtful about how your choices impact the meaning of your text.