Irregular plurals are not formed by adding -S.
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Derivative of Nina Paley
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There are no rules - you have to memorise them all. The plural of 'ox' is 'oxen', but the plural of 'box' is not 'boxen'. In the same way, we do say 'geese' when we make the plural of 'goose', but we never say 'meese' when we make the plural of 'moose'.
SINGULAR
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PLURAL
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SINGULAR
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PLURAL
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TOOTH
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TEETH
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OX
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OXEN
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FOOT
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FEET
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PENNY
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PENCE
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MAN
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MEN
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GOOSE
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GEESE
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WOMAN
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WOMEN
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MOUSE
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MICE
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PERSON
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PEOPLE
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LOUSE
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LICE
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The regular plural pennies can be used to talk about separate penny coins (and one-cent coins in the USA); pence is used to talk about prices and sums of money. Some British people now use pence as a singular (e.g. That’ll be three pounds and one pence, please).
Persons is sometimes used as a plural of person in official language. There is also a singular noun people (plural peoples) meaning ‘nation’.
[source: Michael Swan, Practical English Usage]
examples:
- One full course of treatment costs as little as 5 pence, and can save a life.
- Have you got a few pennies left?
- 55 persons on board were killed, whereas 25 were seriously injured.
- The native peoples of Australia.
