PRIMARY SPELLING & PHONICS • GRADE 2–3 GRAMMAR • PLURAL -ES • SINGULAR REVERSAL STUDENT WORKSHEET • PAGE 1 OF 2

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Sibilant Epenthetic Plural • Plural -es (/ɪz/) • Base Root Reversal

“When a word ends in a hissing sound (-s, -x, -z, -ch, -sh), we cannot add just -s without creating an impossible sound. We must add -es, which forms an extra syllable: box•es, glass•es.”

Wheeler's 12 Core Plural Words:
fishes • boxes • blushes • wishes • peaches • glasses • churches • bushes • watches • classes • witches • matches

1 Wheeler's Singular Reversal Matrix (Plural → Singular)

Write the base singular form of each plural word by omitting the suffix -es:

fishes → fish
boxes → box
blushes → blush

wishes → wish
peaches → peach
glasses → glass

churches → church
bushes → bush
watches → watch

classes → class
witches → witch
matches → match

2 Wheeler's Socratic Plural Inquiry

Answer Wheeler's textbook inquiry in clear, complete sentences on the guidelines:

1. What letters did you omit when you wrote the singular form?

2. Why was the letter 'e' necessary before 's' in the plural forms?

3 Sibilant Ending Classification

Group the singular words by their final hissing sibilant letters:

Ends in -sh (4 words):
fish, blush, wish, bush

Ends in -ch (5 words):
peach, church, watch, witch, match

Ends in -ss or -x (3 words):
box, glass, class

Wheeler's Grammar Rules • Plural -es

1. 1. Sibilant Rule: Nouns ending in sibilant sounds (s, x, z, ch, sh) must form their plural by adding -es instead of simple -s.

2. 2. Epenthetic Extra Syllable: The vowel e creates an extra syllable (/ɪz/), allowing the human vocal tract to pronounce the plural cleanly (box [1] → box•es [2]).

3. 3. Singular Base Preservation: When stripping -es, the complete root word is revealed intact: church + es → church.