Plurals of words ending in ‘o’

-os, -oes or either?

ByJohanna Stirling

The Spelling Bloghttp://thespellingblog.blogspot.com

Ever wondered...

...when words ending in o add just s

and when they add es?

Nouns that end in o can make their plural by adding s or es and many of them can be either.

The patterns are not very clear but:

These words just add s: radios, patios, zoos, kangaroos

What do they have in common?(Hint: look at the letter before the o)

-s

Words ending in VOWEL + o, just add s:

radios, patios, zoos, kangaroos

-s

These words just add s too

kilos, photos, logos, typos

What do they have in common?(Hint: related to the length of the word)

-s

We just add s to

short forms of longer words:kilos photos logos typos

-s

We just add s to these words:Eskimos Picassos Filipinos

What do they have in common?

Hint: what does the first letter tell you?

-s

We usually just add s toproper nouns:

Eskimos Picassos Filipinos

-s

We just add -s to these words

from tacos stilettos

and many other musical termssombreros

solos

What do these words have in common?Hint: Think about the origin of the words.

We usually just add -s to loan words* from

from

*Loan words are words that have come from another language with no change of spelling

Spanish Italian

tacos stilettos

and many other musical termssombreros

solos

We just add s tokimonos avocados casinos infernos torsos

Any idea why?(Hint: Think about when they entered the English language.)

-s

We usually just add s towords that are newer to English:

kimonos avocados casinos infernos torsos

-s

These words add es:potatoes tomatoes

echoes embargoes heroes vetoes

Any idea why?(Hint: Compare them with the words on the previous slide.)

-es

Words that entered English long ago* usually add es:potatoes tomatoes

echoes embargoes heroes vetoes

-es

*and in which the spelling may have been Anglicised

Many words have two alternative spellings – you choose* - add s or es ...

-s or -es

*but try to be consistent!

-s or -esbuffaloes / osdominoes / osghettos / oes

innuendos / oesmangos / oes

mosquitoes / osmottos / oes

tornadoes / osvolcanoes / os

zeros / oes

Most common spelling shown first

So in fact... the only common words that must have es are:

potatoes tomatoesechoes heroes

vetoes embargoes torpedoes

That means ...

... you could just learn these

and write all the others with s

potatoes tomatoesechoes heroes

vetoes embargoes torpedoes

Hope that helps!

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