Pluralizing English words according to all pluralizing rules!

-pluralize.md

Easily Pluralizing English Words in Go

This code makes it easy to pluralize words based off of English pluralizing rules.

$ go run main.go
2 balls
1 boy
3 foxes
2 babies
1 leaf
3 knives
2 cats
1 dress

main.go

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
)

func pluralize(word string, count int) string {
	if count == 1 {
		return word
	}

	lastChar := word[len(word)-1]
	lastTwoChars := word[len(word)-2:]

	switch {
	case lastChar == 's' || lastChar == 'x' || lastChar == 'z' ||
		(lastTwoChars == "ch" || lastTwoChars == "sh"):
		return word + "es"
	case lastTwoChars == "ay" || lastTwoChars == "ey" || lastTwoChars == "oy" || lastTwoChars == "uy":
		return word + "s"
	case lastChar == 'y' && !isVowel(word[len(word)-2]):
		return word[:len(word)-1] + "ies"
	case lastChar == 'y':
		return word + "s"
	case lastTwoChars == "fe" && len(word) > 2:
		return word[:len(word)-2] + "ves"
	case lastChar == 'f':
		return word[:len(word)-1] + "ves"
	default:
		return word + "s"
	}
}

func isVowel(char byte) bool {
	return strings.ContainsAny(string(char), "aeiouAEIOU")
}

func main() {
	word1 := "ball"
	word2 := "boy"
	word3 := "fox"
	word4 := "baby"
	word5 := "leaf"
	word6 := "knife"
	word7 := "cat"
	word8 := "dress"

	count1 := 2
	count2 := 1
	count3 := 3

	fmt.Printf("%d %s\n", count1, pluralize(word1, count1)) // prints "2 balls"
	fmt.Printf("%d %s\n", count2, pluralize(word2, count2)) // prints "1 boy"
	fmt.Printf("%d %s\n", count3, pluralize(word3, count3)) // prints "3 foxes"
	fmt.Printf("%d %s\n", count1, pluralize(word4, count1)) // prints "2 babies"
	fmt.Printf("%d %s\n", count2, pluralize(word5, count2)) // prints "1 leaf"
	fmt.Printf("%d %s\n", count3, pluralize(word6, count3)) // prints "3 knives"
	fmt.Printf("%d %s\n", count1, pluralize(word7, count1)) // prints "2 cats"
	fmt.Printf("%d %s\n", count2, pluralize(word8, count2)) // prints "1 dress"
}