Plural Forms of Compound Nouns

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Plural Forms of CompoundNouns

In general we make the plural of a compound noun byadding -s to the "base word" (the most "significant" word).

Look at these examples:

singular plural

a tennis shoe three tennis shoes

one assistant headmaster five assistant headmasters

the sergeant major some sergeants major

a mother-in-law two mothers-in-law

an assistant secretary ofstate

three assistant secretaries ofstate

my toothbrush our toothbrushes

a woman-doctor four women-doctors

a doctor of philosophy two doctors of philosophy

a passerby, a passer-by two passersby, two passers-by

Note that there is some variation with words like spoonfulor truckful. The old style was to say spoonsful or trucksful

for the plural. Today it is more usual to say spoonfuls ortruckfuls. Both the old style (spoonsful) and the new style(spoonfuls) are normally acceptable, but you should be

consistent in your choice. Here are some examples:

old style plural

(very formal)

new style plural

teaspoonful 3 teaspoonsful of 3 teaspoonfuls of


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sugar sugar

truckful 5 trucksful of sand 5 truckfuls of sand

bucketful 2 bucketsful of water 2 bucketfuls of water

cupful 4 cupsful of rice 4 cupfuls of rice

Some compound nouns have no obvious base word andyou may need to consult a dictionary to find the plural:

higher-ups also-rans

go-betweens

has-beens

good-for-nothings

grown-ups

Note that with compound nouns made of [noun + noun]the first noun is like an adjective and therefore does not

usually take an -s. A tree that has apples has manyapples, but we say an apple tree, notapples

tree; matchbox not matchesbox; toothbrush not teethbrush.


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With compound nouns made of [noun + noun] the secondnoun takes an -s for plural. The first noun acts like an

adjective and as you know, adjectives in English areinvariable. Look at these examples:

long plural form becomes plural compound noun[noun + noun]

100 trees with apples 100 apple trees

1,000 cables for telephones 1,000 telephone cables20 boxes for tools 20 tool boxes

10 stops for buses 10 bus stops

4,000 wheels for cars 4,000 car wheels


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Examples : ONE WORD ( COMPOUND

NOUN )

singular plural

baseball baseballsbedroom bedrooms

cornflake cornflakes

fireman firemen

sidewalk sidewalks

maidservant maidservants

handful handfuls

spoonful spoonfuls

Examples : TWO WORD OR W/ SPACE

( COMPOUND NOUN )

first sergeant first sergeants

sergeant major sergeants major

deputy librarian deputy librarians

assistant secretary assistant

secretariesmaster mechanic master mechanics

cup of tea cups of tea

lieutenant general lieutenant

generals

board of director board of directors


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Examples : WITH HYPHPEN ( - ) ( COMPOUND

NOUN )

mother-in-law mothers-in-law

court-martial courts-martial

brother-in-law brothers-in-law

sister-in-law sisters-in-law

forget-me-not forget-me-nots

editor-in-chief editors-in-chief

aide-de-camp aides-de-camp

passer-by passers-by

maid-in-waiting maids-in-waiting

DIRECTION: Give the plural form of

each compound noun. Answer

only. C.W.1. master mechanic 14. bus

station

2. forget-me-not 15. assistant

secretary

3. fireman 16. maidservant

4. cup of tea 17. eggshell

5. handful 18. Drug store

6. aide-de-camp 19. officer-

in-charge

7. passer-by 20. master of

ceremony

8. Lieutenant General

9. Board of Director

10.Editor-in-chief


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Plural Forms of Compound Nouns