156 Essential Skills for Health Careers Success
Nouns
A noun is a type of word that represents a person, place, or thing, like
doctor, heart, and ambulance. Nouns can be singular or plural (Figure 7.15).
Proper Nouns. Nouns can be classifi ed as proper or common. A proper noun
begins with a capital letter no matter where it occurs in a sentence. Proper
nouns name a specifi c item. A common noun is not capitalized and does
not name a specifi c person, thing, or place.
Example (common noun): writer
Example (proper noun): Ernest Hemingway
Example (common noun): city
Example (proper noun): Chicago
Possessive Nouns. A possessive noun indicates ownership by the noun or
a characteristic of the noun. The possessive form of a noun is created by
adding an apostrophe and an “s.”
In most cases, plural nouns that end with an “s” are made possessive
noun
a word representing a per-
son, place, or thing
Making Singular Nouns Plural
Guidelines Singular Plural
For most nouns, add s to the singular form to
create the plural form.
doctor doctors
X-ray X-rays
glove gloves
For nouns that end in sh, ch, s, x, z, or similar
sounds, add es to the singular form. In the case
of z, the z is often doubled.
crutch crutches
box boxes
class classes
quiz quizzes
For nouns that end in a consonant and a y,
change the y to i and add es.
pharmacy pharmacies
nursery nurseries
For nouns that end in o preceded by a vowel,
add s to the singular form. For most nouns that
end in o preceded by a consonant, add s to
form the plural. For some exceptions, add es.
albino albinos
radio radios
memo memos
placebo placeboes
For many nouns that end in f or fe, change the
f sound to a v and add s or es to the singular
form. For others, keep the f and add an s.
life lives
knife knives
strife strives
Figure 7.15 Singular nouns can be made plural by following these guidelines.