--- title: "Irregular plurals and collective nouns" description: "Recognise and select irregular plural noun forms. Check plural spellings in sentences and distinguish collective nouns such as flock, pack and group from the names of their members." canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/irregular-plurals-and-collective-nouns-mt_nFBLNoChD0 source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/irregular-plurals-and-collective-nouns-mt_nFBLNoChD0.md retrieved: 2026-11-12 --- > **Agent view.** This is the Markdown twin of the page, for tools and assistants. > When to use this site, and the call that answers each job: https://lightmysky.com/agent-instructions.md > API description (OpenAPI 3.1): https://lightmysky.com/openapi.json · Authentication: https://lightmysky.com/auth.md > Pricing: https://lightmysky.com/pricing.md · Catalog: https://lightmysky.com/llms.txt · Full catalog: https://lightmysky.com/llms-full.txt > Every machine-readable file on this domain: https://lightmysky.com/.well-known/ai-catalog.json > Ask for Markdown with `Accept: text/markdown`, a `.md` address, or `?mode=agent`. # Irregular plurals and collective nouns Recognise and select irregular plural noun forms. Check plural spellings in sentences and distinguish collective nouns such as flock, pack and group from the names of their members. Subject: English · Area: Grammar & Punctuation · Ages 7 to 9 Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/irregular-plurals-and-collective-nouns-mt_nFBLNoChD0 ## Ready when they can - Select irregular plural noun forms such as children, teeth, mice and geese to fit a stated number - Distinguish collective nouns such as flock, pack and group from the plural nouns naming their members - Identify plural spelling errors in supplied sentences and select repairs that preserve the intended number ## Lesson: Irregular plurals and group words Singular means one; plural means more than one. Both forms are nouns. Regular plurals usually add -s or -es. Learn these irregular pairs: child/children, tooth/teeth, goose/geese, foot/feet, mouse/mice, man/men and woman/women. Use mice for the animals. These plural spellings do not need another -s. Sheep and deer keep the same spelling for one animal or several. Numbers and words such as several show when they are plural. Without a number clue or more context, their spelling alone may leave the number unclear. Leaf becomes leaves; ox becomes oxen. Learn each pair's full spelling. A collective noun names a group. In 'a flock of birds,' flock names the group and birds names its members. Conventional phrases include flock of birds and pack of wolves. Group is a general word for many kinds of set, including children or stones. Group words can be plural too: several packs names several groups. When editing, find each noun meant to name more than one. Use these pairs: child/children, mouse/mice (animals), man/men, woman/women, goose/geese and foot/feet (body parts). Check every intended plural and leave correct forms unchanged. Count each word needing repair once, not each changed letter. For example, 'Some childs waved' needs children, so one word needs repair. Do not add -s to these plural forms. Check what is being counted. 'One group of dancers' names one group with several members. 'Several groups of dancers' names more than one group. A collective noun can name a group even when its own form is plural. Its members can have a separate plural noun. A dictionary can help check an unfamiliar plural. Look up the singular noun and read the plural listed with it. A note written as 'singular, plural' puts the form for one before the form for several. Keep a listed irregular plural as it is; do not add -s merely because a number is greater than one. **Recap.** Learn each irregular plural spelling. Check every intended plural when editing. Collective nouns name groups; member nouns name the people or things in them. *The lesson and replacement questions were written for this dataset.* ## Practice 24 questions on this page, each with its working shown. ## Needs first - [Regular Plural Nouns](https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/regular-plural-nouns-mt_18qkgxr_-T) ## Opens up - [Apostrophes for possession (age 7+)](https://lightmysky.com/learn/english/apostrophes-for-possession-age-7-mt_HdI1y5KsBl)