Plural of Offspring

by Craig Shrives

The Quick Answer

offspring is a mass noun. It has no plural form.

The Plural of Offspring

Offspring is a mass noun. It has no plural form.

Human offspring are referred to as children.
Cloning is the production of an offspring which represents the identical genes as its parent.

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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
Mass nouns	offspring rice	some nouns do not have a plural form	offspring rice
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 Offspring?

Confusion arises because offspring is a mass noun. A mass noun is a noun without a plural form. They refer to items that can't be counted (e.g., music, milk, chalk).

Another Interactive Exercise

Here are three randomly selected questions from another exercise on plurals, which can be edited, printed to create an exercise worksheet, or sent via email to friends or students.

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