Quick Answer Latin words ending in -a have a formal plural in -ae: one formula, two formulae. In everyday English, the simple -as form is equally correct — and far more common. See the Pattern First Most of these words have two accepted plurals. Context decides. In maths class: two formulae. In a shop: two…
Quick Answer Most everyday words ending in -o add -es: one potato, two potatoes. Newer or shortened words just add -s: photos, pianos, zeros. There is a simple test to tell them apart. See the Pattern First Two groups, side by side. One potato, two potatoes. One tomato, two tomatoes. One hero, two heroes. One…
Quick Answer A small group of very old English words change the vowel inside instead of adding an ending: one foot, two feet; one tooth, two teeth. There are only eight of them in everyday English — and you already know most. See the Pattern First Listen to the vowel change in the middle of…
Quick Answer Some English nouns look exactly the same for one and for many: one deer, two deer. You do not add anything. The words around them — one/two, is/are, this/these — tell the reader how many there are. See the Pattern First Nothing changes on the noun. Everything changes around it. One deer is…
Quick Answer Words from Latin ending in -um and Greek words ending in -on change the ending to -a: one curriculum, two curricula; one phenomenon, two phenomena. See the Pattern First Four sentences. Watch the ending change from -um or -on to -a. The school changed one curriculum. It changed both curricula. That is a…
Quick Answer Words from Latin ending in -us often change to -i: one cactus, two cacti. But English now accepts the simple -uses form for most of them too — and for a few words, the Latin form is plain wrong. See the Pattern First Look at how these behave. Notice that some have two…
Quick Answer Words that end in -is change the i to an e: one analysis, two analyses. These words come from Greek and appear a lot in school, university and news writing. See the Pattern First Read these sentences. Look at the endings in blue. One crisis is bad. Two crises are worse. The doctor…
Quick Answer Most English words ending in -f or -fe change to -ves in the plural. One knife becomes two knives. One leaf becomes many leaves. But four common words break this rule — you will learn them below. See the Pattern First Read these four sentences. Look at the words in blue. I have…
B2 · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE Reading practice · ~3,100 words · 16-min read This is an original story for upper-intermediate learners. It is about a city, a staircase, and a young reporter who asks one question too many. Before you start, read the ten key words below — they all appear in the story more than once….
B1 · INTERMEDIATE Reading practice · ~2,600 words · 13-min read This is an original story for intermediate learners. It is about a young traveller whose perfect plan goes wrong — and what happens next. First, read the ten key words. Then read the story in six short chapters. At the end, there are questions…
