Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

A wolf in sheep’s clothing refers to a dangerous person who pretends to be harmless [1]. While most countable nouns simply add an s at the end in the plural form, many countable nouns in English can be deceptive [2], they have irregular plural forms. Some, like wolf, transform a little in the plural form. Others, like sheep, can have the same form in both the singular and plural.

There are simple plural transformations.

Nouns ending in o, s, x, ch and sh, add –es  at the end:

singular: potato, kiss, box, match, wash

plural: potatoes, kisses, boxes, matches, washes

Nouns ending in a vowel y, change the y to i and add –es at the end.

singular: city, documentary, fly, library, symphony

plural: cities, documentaries, flies, libraries, symphonies

Nouns ending in –lf, change the f to v and add –es at the end:

singular: wolf, half, shelf

plural: wolves, halves, shelves

And even some that only end in f or fe:

singular: leaf, life, knife, scarf, wife

plural: leaves, lives, knives, scarves, wives

Then there are nouns that undergo [3] a bigger transformation.

singular: foot, tooth, goose, mouse

plural: feet, teeth, geese, mice

And finally, there are those nouns that don’t change at all.

Such as: means, offspring, series, species

Many are animals: deer, fish, moose, sheep, shrimp


However, humans change!
singular: person, child, man, woman
plural: people, children, men, women

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[1] inofensivo, [2] engañoso, [3] experimentar