Can you programmatically detect pluralizations of English words, and derive the singular form?

Question

Given some (English) word that we shall assume is a plural, is it possible to derive the singular form? I\'d like to avoid lookup/dictionary tables if possi

Answer 1

No - English isn't a language which sticks to many rules.

I think your best bet is either:

• use a dictionary of common words and their plurals (or group them by their plural rule, eg: group words where you just add an S, words where you add ES, words where you drop a Y and add IES...)
• rethink your application