Mastering the Mutant Plurals

Khan Academy

In this engaging grammar lesson, the narrator introduces a special class of irregular English nouns known as "Mutant Plurals." Unlike standard nouns that simply add an "s" to become plural, these seven unique words transform by changing their internal vowel sounds. The video frames these linguistic anomalies as words with "mutant superpowers," making a dry grammatical rule memorable and fun for students. The video systematically lists and charts the only seven words in the English language that follow this specific pattern: foot/feet, woman/women, man/men, tooth/teeth, goose/geese, mouse/mice, and louse/lice. The narrator highlights how the vowel sounds shift (such as "oo" becoming "ee") and points out the additional spelling quirk found in "mouse" and "louse," where the consonant sound also changes. This resource is highly valuable for elementary ELA classrooms as a memorization tool. By isolating these seven words as a closed group, it reduces student anxiety about irregular plurals. The "mutant" metaphor provides a sticky hook for recall, and the clear visual chart supports note-taking and visual learning. Teachers can use this to introduce the concept of morphology or simply to reinforce correct spelling and usage.