Editing English plurals (section)

====Nouns with identical singular and plural====
Some nouns have identical singular and plural ([[zero (linguistics)|zero]] inflection). Many of these are the names of animals:
*''bison''
*''buffalo'' (or ''buffaloes'')
*''carp''
*''cod''
*''deer'' (and all species in the [[deer family]] such as ''[[moose]]'' and ''[[elk]]'')
*''fish'' (or ''fishes'')
*''kakapo'' (and other [[Māori language|Māori]]-derived words)
*''neat''
*''pike''
*''salmon''
*''sheep''
*''shrimp'' or ''shrimps'' (British)
*''squid''
*''trout''
As a general rule, [[game animal|game]] or other animals are often referred to in the singular for the plural in a sporting context: "He shot six [[Brace (hunting)|brace]] of pheasant", "Carruthers bagged a dozen tiger last year", whereas in another context such as zoology or tourism the regular plural would be used. [[Eric Partridge]] refers to these sporting terms as "snob plurals" and conjectures that they may have developed by analogy with the common English irregular plural animal words "deer", "sheep" and "trout".<ref>Partridge, Eric, ''Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English'', revised by Janet Whitcut (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1997), pp. 238–39.</ref> Similarly, nearly all kinds of fish have no separate plural form (though there are exceptions—such as rays, sharks or lampreys). As to the word ''fish'' itself, the plural is usually identical to the singular, although ''fishes'' is sometimes used, especially when meaning "species of fish". ''Fishes'' is also used in iconic contexts, such as the [[Bible]] story of the [[loaves and fishes]], or the reference in ''[[The Godfather]]'', "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes." The plurals of the names of fishes either take the ending -s or is the same as the singular.

Other nouns that have identical singular and plural forms include:

*''craft'' (meaning 'vessel'), including ''[[aircraft]]'', ''[[watercraft]]'', ''[[spacecraft]]'', ''[[hovercraft]]'' (but in the sense of a skill or art, the plural is regular, ''crafts'')
*''blues'' (referring to individual songs in the [[blues]] musical style: "play me a blues"; "he sang three blues and a calypso")
*''cannon'' (''cannons'' is more common in North America and Australia, while ''cannon'' as plural is more common in the United Kingdom.)
*''chassis'' (only the spelling is identical; the singular is pronounced {{IPA|/(t)ʃæsi/}} while the plural is {{IPA|/(t)ʃæsiz/}})
*''counsel'' (in the meaning of ''lawyer'')<ref>{{cite dictionary |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/counsel |dictionary=Merriam-Webster |title=Counsel|access-date=26 August 2017 |quote=4a plural counsel (1) : a lawyer ... }}</ref>
*''head'' (referring, in the plural, to animals in a herd: "fifty head of cattle": cf ''brace'' above)
*''iris'' (usually ''irises'', but ''iris'' can be the plural for multiple plants; in medical contexts ''irides'' is used, see {{slink||Irregular plurals from Latin and Greek}} below)
*''series'', ''species'' (and other words in ''-ies'', from the Latin [[Latin declension#Fifth declension (e stems)|fifth declension]]) [The word ''specie'' refers only to money, coins, from the Latin ablative singular form in the phrase ''in specie''. It has no plural form.]
*''stone''—as a [[Stone (unit)|unit of weight equal to 14 pounds]] (occasionally stones)

Many names for [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] peoples are not inflected in the plural:
*''Cherokee''
*''Cree''
*''Comanche''
*''Delaware''
*''Hopi''
*''Iroquois''
*''Kiowa''
*''Navajo''
*''Ojibwa''
*''Sioux''
*''Zuni''

Exceptions include [[Algonquin people|''Algonquins'']], ''Apaches'', ''Aztecs'', ''Chippewas'', ''Hurons'', ''Incas'', ''Mohawks'', ''Oneidas'', and ''Seminoles''.

English sometimes distinguishes between regular plural forms of [[demonyms]]/[[ethnonyms]] (e.g. "five Dutchmen", "several Irishmen"), and uncountable plurals used to refer to entire nationalities collectively (e.g. "the Dutch", "the Irish").

Certain other words borrowed from foreign languages such as [[Japanese language|Japanese]] and [[Māori language|Māori]] are "correctly" not inflected in the plural, although many people are not aware of this rule; see {{slink||Irregular plurals from other languages}} below.