eli5: as a native english speaker, how are we supposed to know if an English words plural is the same as singular? (Ex: moose, sheep, paper)

Question

eli5: as a native english speaker, how are we supposed to know if an English words plural is the same as singular? (Ex: moose, sheep, paper)

In: Other

Answer 1

It kind of depends on the word origins. For example, Moose doesn’t have a plural because it comes from Algonquian, (Mooswa, ‘the animal that strips bark off of trees’) and the Algonquian doesn’t have a plural use for it.