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Plural of Goose

by Craig Shrives

The Quick Answer

The plural of "goose" is "geese."

The Plural of Goose

The plural of "goose" is "geese."

For "The Gift of Stones", I spent an afternoon chasing a flock of Canadian geese. (Jim Crace)
Geese are waterfowl belonging to the Anatidae family.

Certain plurals do not add a letter to the end, but instead change the word itself. The noun "goose" is an example of this. There is no ruling for these types of plurals. You just have to know.

Table of Contents

Are You Good at Plurals?
The Standard Rules for Forming the Plurals
Why Is There Confusion over the Plural of Goose?
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The Standard Rules for Forming the Plurals

The table below shows the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English.

Type	Example of Type	Forming the Plural	Plural
Most Nouns	cat scythe	add s	cats scythes
Noun Ending s, sh, ch, x or z	bus dress	add es	buses dresses
Nouns ending [consonant] o	mango zero tomato	add either s or es (There are no rules for this - you have to know.)	mangoes or mangos zeros tomatoes
Nouns ending [vowel] o	patio ratio	add s	patios ratios
Nouns ending [consonant] y	story penny	change the y to an i and add es	stories pennies
Nouns ending [vowel] y	storey () donkey	add s	storeys donkeys
Nouns ending f or fe	dwarf knife	ves and/or s (There are no rules - you have to know.)	dwarfs knives
Exceptions	goose louse	some nouns undergo a vowel or letters change	geese lice
More exceptions	salmon sheep	some nouns do not change at all	salmon sheep

Why Is There Confusion over the Plural of Goose?

There is confusion because some nouns become different words when they're made plural (usually due to a letter change). There are no easy ways to remember these plurals, so they generally have to be memorized.

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Suitable for: Teachers, advanced students, and business writers.

Description: Published by London's Octopus Publishing, "Smashing Grammar" is the third, and most comprehensive, grammar reference book written by Craig Shrives (the founder of the Grammar-Monster.com). It is divided into three sections: