For the proper plurals of foreign words, and of some others that are accepted as strictly English, the dictionary should be consulted. The formation of the plurals of English words cannot be reduced to a few simple rules: in some words they are of great irregularity, as may be seen in these examples:
- brother, brethren
- cayman, caymans
- child, children
- foot, feet
- goose, geese
- man, men
- mongoose, mongooses
- mouse, mice
- Mr., Messrs.
- Mrs., Mesdames
- ox, oxen
- tooth, teeth
While s is sometimes added to the nouns Bedouin, cannon, heathen, to indicate the plural, they are commonly regarded as both singular and plural, and the final s is omitted. On the other hand, some words plural in form, as means (agency or instrumentality), ethics, politics, news, optics, may be used as nominatives with verbs in the singular number; but wages, pains, aborigines, antipodes, and literati need a verb in the plural number.
Compounded nouns add the s to the principal word, as in courts-martial, sons-in-law, stepsons, major-generals, four-per-cents.
The plural of nouns ending in ful, as handful, spoonful, etc., is one of the unsettled spellings. Some make it handsful, spoonsful, etc.; but the preference of most writers is for spelling the words as oftenest pronounced, handfuls, spoonfuls, etc.
