Harvey's Elementary Grammar and Composition · Lesson 52–53 · Part 2: Part II: The parts of speech in full

52. Number and the plural rules

Goal: Your child applies the full set of plural rules, including foreign plurals, compounds and words ending in ful.

⏱ About 30 minutes · 7 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • Paper and a pencil (or a slate)

What's in the book

Lesson 52 defines number. Lesson 53 gives the rules for forming plurals, with lists of words to make plural and plurals to make singular.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Review

    Ask for the plurals of baby, leaf, box and mouse (from Lesson 8).

  2. The definition

    Read:

    Number is that property of a noun or pronoun which distinguishes one from more than one.

  3. New rules

    Go through the new rules:

    Most nouns ending in o, preceded by a consonant, add es; as, cargo, cargoes.

    Nouns ending in o, preceded by a vowel, add s; as, folio, folios.

    Proper nouns usually add s only in forming their plurals; as, Mary, Marys; Sarah, Sarahs; Nero, Neros.

    Nouns ending in ful or full, form their plurals by adding s to the singular; as, handfuls, mouthfuls.

    The book also covers foreign words (stratum, strata) and compound words (brothers-in-law).

  4. Oral practice

    Say a word; your child gives the plural and names the rule: hero, radio, cupful, son-in-law, Mary.

  5. Write plurals and singulars

    From the book's lists, write the plurals of some words:

    Calf; Clam; Truth

    and the singulars of some plurals:

    Geese; Errata; Heroes

  6. Check together

    Check with the answers. Some old foreign plurals (radices, incubi) are rare today; note them but don't drill them.

  7. Use it today

    The book asks your child to tell the number of all the nouns in the reading lesson. Do one paragraph.

Answers to the book's problems

Plurals: calves, clams, truths, a's b's c's, analyses, taxes, Johns, teeth, armfuls, mischiefs, follies, replies, Charleses, creatures, hoes, rakes, horses, salmon, chimneys, turfs, children, radices (or radixes), women, embargoes, vases, glories, studios, incubi, momenta (or momentums), plows, tariffs, cameos, wrenches, wagon-loads. Singulars: goose, erratum, hero, ellipsis, mouse, folio, ruby, badge, beauty, ox, penny, loaf, judge, child, genius (genie), stratum, horse, valley, monkey.

Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.

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