Number
Main article: English plural

English nouns are typically inflected for number, having distinct singular and plural forms. The plural form usually consists of the singular form plus -s or -es, but there are many irregular nouns. Ordinarily, the singular form is used when discussing one instance of the noun's referent, and the plural form is used when discussing any other number of instances, but there are many exceptions to this rule. Examples include:

* The girl (singular) talks.
* The girls (plural) talk.
* Every girl (singular) talks.
* All girls (plural) talk.
* No girl (singular) talks.
* No girls (plural) talk.