Noun plurals can be weird in English. This quiz will take you through some of the troublesome ones. Good luck!

______ (Loafs, Loaves) is a noun, and ______ (loafs, loaves) is a verb.

Loafs, loafs

Loaves, loaves

Loafs, loaves

Loaves, loafs

Incorrect, but never fear—an explanation is here!

"Loaves" is the plural of the noun "loaf," as in "Noah ate the entire loaf of bread."

"Loafs" is the singular third-person present-tense form of "to loaf," as in "He loafs around in the afternoon instead of doing his Latin homework."

That’s correct! Here’s why:

"Loaves" is the plural of the noun "loaf," as in "Noah ate the entire loaf of bread."

"Loafs" is the singular third-person present-tense form of "to loaf," as in "He loafs around in the afternoon instead of doing his Latin homework."

You have invited the Williams family and the Smith family to a barbecue at your house. How do you form the plural of their surnames, as in the following sentence?

The __________ (plural of Williams) and the _______ (plural of Smith) will be here soon.

Williamses, Smiths

Williams, Smiths

Williams's, Smith's

Williams's, Smiths

Incorrect, but never fear—an explanation is here!

Form the plural of names just as you would form the plural of nouns that are not names. For example, the plural of "cat" is "cats"; you add only an s. The plural of "dress" is "dresses"; you add es. Williams follows the same plural-formation pattern as "dress," because they both end in s, and Smith works like "cat," because it doesn't end in s.

That’s correct! Here’s why:

What a fascinating __________ (phenomenon, phenomena)!

phenomenon

phenomena

Incorrect, but never fear—an explanation is here!

The singular noun is "phenomenon"; the plural is "phenomena." The word "a" in this sentence shows that you need the singular.

That’s correct! Here’s why:

The singular noun is "phenomenon"; the plural is "phenomena." The word "a" in this sentence shows that you need the singular.

Is "bacteria" singular or plural?

singular

plural

Incorrect, but never fear—an explanation is here!

"Bacterium" is the singular form.

That’s correct! Here’s why:

"Bacterium" is the singular form.

What is the plural of "sheep"?

sheep

sheeps

Incorrect, but never fear—an explanation is here!

Some nouns have identical singular and plural forms. "Sheep" is one of them.

That’s correct! Here’s why:

Some nouns have identical singular and plural forms. "Sheep" is one of them.

What is "ellipses" the plural of?

ellipse

ellipsis

both "ellipsis" and "ellipse"

Incorrect, but never fear—an explanation is here!

"Ellipses" is the plural of both "ellipsis" (the three dots people use for punctuation) and "ellipse" (the shape you may remember learning about in math).

That’s correct! Here’s why:

"Ellipses" is the plural of both "ellipsis" (the three dots people use for punctuation) and "ellipse" (the shape you may remember learning about in math).

Sonya has five ____________ (brother-in-laws, brothers-in-law, brothers-in-laws).

brother-in-laws

brothers-in-law

brothers-in-laws

Incorrect, but never fear—an explanation is here!

To make your in-laws plural, put an s after the first word, not the last.

That’s correct! Here’s why:

To make your in-laws plural, put an s after the first word, not the last.

In the basement I found a bag of moldy ________ (potatos, potatoes) and several antique _______ (radios, radioes).

potatos, radios

potatoes, radioes

potatos, radioes

potatoes, radios

Incorrect, but never fear—an explanation is here!

Potatoes (and tomatoes!) get an e in their plural, but radios do not.

That’s correct! Here’s why:

Potatoes (and tomatoes!) get an e in their plural, but radios do not.

What is the singular of "parentheses"?

parentheses

parenthese

parenthesis

Incorrect, but never fear—an explanation is here!

This one works like "thesis" (singular) and "theses" (plural). The singular "parenthesis" doesn't come up much for most people, but hey, you never know—this may come in handy one day.

That’s correct! Here’s why:

This one works like "thesis" (singular) and "theses" (plural). The singular "parenthesis" doesn't come up much for most people, but hey, you never know—this may come in handy one day.

There are five project _________ (criteria, criterion) I'd like to discuss with you, but we're going to have time to discuss only one _________ (criteria, criterion) today.

criteria, criteria

criterion, criteria

criteria, criterion

criterion, criterion

Incorrect, but never fear—an explanation is here!

"Criterion" is the singular of "criteria."

That’s correct! Here’s why:

"Criterion" is the singular of "criteria."

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