🏁 Don’t forget to change words (when they are the names of things, or nouns) ending in –y to -ies when you make them into plurals (more than one):
baby = babies
fairy = fairies
However, if the letter before the y is a vowel, you just add an ‘s’, e.g. boy just adds an ‘s’ to become boys.
If there is a consonant before the y, take the y away and put ‘-ies’ instead, as in baby and fairy above.
A similar rule applies to some verbs:
To cry = The soldier cries.
To try = The girl tries to learn Spanish.
📲 💻You can use this link to a Google Form so you can test if you can remember it.
🔆 If you’re sorted now, you can go to Skill 22.
🛠 Need more advice and practise? Read on.
🎯 📝 Rewrite the following plurals of the main words in these sentences, replacing the -y with -ies. In many you will also have to change the verb so it makes sense.
e.g. The blue sky is above → The blue skies are above.
The baby cries downstairs.
The party is too loud.
The woman likes hot curry.
The family waits at the McDonald’s.
The library is next to the shop.
The factory makes parts for cars.
The man’s allergy is uncomfortable.
The university is full of students.
The lorry drives past quickly.
The responsibility is shared between us.
The opportunity is hard to get.
The boy likes to eat chocolate.
The valley is full of trees.
That donkey needs to eat more and work less.
✅ You should have got answers like these for the exercise above:
The babies cry downstairs.
The parties are too loud.
The woman likes hot curries.
The families wait at the McDonald’s.
The libraries are next to the shop.
The factories make parts for cars.
The man’s allergies are uncomfortable.
The universities are full of students.
The lorries drive past quickly.
The responsibilities are shared between us.
The opportunities are hard to get.
The boys like to eat chocolate.
The valleys are full of trees.
Those donkeys need to eat more and work less.
🚦 Time for more?
🎯 💻 If you’d like to check to see if you know now which words will just take an ‘s’ for plurals, and which will need ‘-ies,’ try this exercise (scroll down after explanations):
https://howtospell.co.uk/y-to-ies-or-s-plural-rule