Noun plurals: cats, dogs, and horses

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks!This is a lesson about the pronunciation of some plurals in English, with a few numbers thrown in as a bonus. Listen:I have one cat. Mary has two cats.John only has one horse. I'm rich: I have (23) twenty-three horses.Sam has one cow. Sally has three cows.Listen to the pronunciation of the words as they go from singular to plural:cat — catshorse — horsescow — cowsIn each case the written plural is made by adding the letter "S" to the noun. But the pronunciation isn't as simple. Listen again:  cat — cats (add an 's' sound)cow — cows (add a 'z' sound)horse — horses (add an 'uhz' sound)Let's practice these starting with the 's' sound. 1. cup — cups  Paul had one cup of coffee. I drank twelve cups of coffee.2. pot — pots Mary made one pot of tea. I made seven pots of tea.3. stack — stacks Harold made one stack of paper. Jane made three stacks of paper.4. book — books John has one book. I have thirty-seven (37) books.5. cake — cakes Robert wants one big cake for his birthday. I want three huge cakes for my birthday.Here are some more words that have the /s/ sound for the plural:hat — hats. One hat, fifteen hatslock — locks. One lock, forty-two (42) locksminute — minutes. One minute, sixty (60) minutesboat — boats. One boat, seventy-nine (79) boatsplant — plants. One plant, thirteen (13) plantslight — lights. One light, eleven (11) lightsNext let's practice with plurals that have the /z/ sound:6. bird — birds.I saw one bird. George saw nineteen (19) birds.7. door — doorsShe opened a door. Michael opened twenty-one (21) doors.8. dog — dogsI only have one dog. Charlie and his wife have nine dogs. They're crazy.9. boy — boys, girl — girlsI saw a boy and a girl going for a walk. I saw at least twenty-five (25) boys and girls on the playground.10. french fry — french friesShe nibbled on a french fry. I ate at least fifty (50) french fries, and now I feel sick.Here are some more words with the /z/ sound in the plural:worm — wormsbug — bugspig — pigsplan — plansplane — planescar — carscrater — cratersmicrophone — microphonestube — tubesguy — guyssky — skiesball — ballsFinally there are words where the plural is pronounced /IZ/as in bush — bushes, or fix — fixes. Here are some examples:11. gas — gasesOxygen is a gas. Argon, neon, and xenon are three more gases.12. wish — wishesSarah made a wish. Miriam made wishes every night.13. canvas — canvasesThe artist painted my portrait on a small canvas. A different artist painted portraits of his girlfriend on canvases of every size and shape.14. quiz — quizzesOur English teacher gave us a pop [surprise] quiz this morning. The math teacher liked to give quizzes every few days.15. tax — taxesOur town has a sales tax. There are lots of local, state, and federal taxes in the USA.Here are some more words in this group:witch — witcheschurch — churcheswrench — wrenchescrash — crashesdish — dishesmarsh — marshesstitch — stitchesI was home when some judges came to visit. They went into the kitchen and I heard some crashes. Then they came out. "We have to judge some witches," said the chief judge. "The ones who live in the marshes. We think they have been cursing the pigs, cows, horses, chickens, and dogs.""Have you guys been sniffing any gases?" I asked. "Cause there are no witches around here. No marshes, either."The judges left in a hurry and never came back. I sent them a bill for the broken dishes in my kitchen.Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com Support the showEmail me:  [email protected] can now support my podcasts and classes:Keep the podcasts coming! Thank you!