Nouns - Part 3 (Plural Nouns)
Plural Nouns
I have decided to post the notes under the comments for this posting because it took up too much space! Please go to my comments to see the notes.
Thanks.
posted by William Grosse @ 10:50 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
The plural form of most nouns is created simply by adding the letter s.
more than one snake = snakes
more than one ski = skis
more than one Barrymore = Barrymores
Words that end in -ch, x, s or s-like sounds, however, will require an -es for the plural:
more than one witch = witches
more than one box = boxes
more than one gas = gases
more than one bus = buses
more than one kiss = kisses
more than one Jones = Joneses
Note that some dictionaries list "busses" as an acceptable plural for "bus." Presumably, this is because the plural "buses" looks like it ought to rhyme with the plural of "fuse," which is "fuses." "Buses" is still listed as the preferable plural form. "Busses" is the plural, of course, for "buss," a seldom used word for "kiss."
There are several nouns that have irregular plural forms. Plurals formed in this way are sometimes called mutated (or mutating) plurals.
more than one child = children
more than one woman = women
more than one man = men
more than one person = people
more than one goose = geese
more than one mouse = mice
more than one barracks = barracks
more than one deer = deer
And, finally, there are nouns that maintain their Latin or Greek form in the plural. (See media and data and alumni, below.)
more than one nucleus = nuclei
more than one syllabus = syllabi
more than one focus = foci
more than one fungus = fungi
more than one cactus = cacti (cactuses is acceptable)
more than one thesis = theses
more than one crisis = crises*
more than one phenomenon = phenomena
more than one index = indices (indexes is acceptable)
more than one appendix = appendices (appendixes is acceptable)
more than one criterion = criteria
*Note the pronunciation of this word, crises: the second syllable sounds like ease. More than one base in the game of baseball is bases, but more than one basis for an argument, say, is also bases, and then we pronounce the word basease.
A handful of nouns appear to be plural in form but take a singular verb:
The news is bad.
Gymnastics is fun to watch.
Economics/mathematics/statistics is said to be difficult. ("Economics" can sometimes be a plural concept, as in "The economics of the situation demand that . . . .")
Numerical expressions are usually singular, but can be plural if the individuals within a numerical group are acting individually:
Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money.
One-third of the school faculty is retiring this summer.
One-half of the school faculty have doctorates.
Fifty percent of the students have voted already.
And another handful of nouns might seem to be singular in nature but take a plural form and always use a plural verb:
My pants are torn. (Nowadays you will sometimes see this word as a singular "pant" [meaning one pair of pants] especially in clothing ads, but most writers would regard that as an affectation.)
Her scissors were stolen.
The glasses have slipped down his nose again.
When a noun names the title of something or is a word being used as a word, it is singular whether the word takes a singular form or not.
Faces is the name of the new restaurant downtown.
Chelmsley Brothers is the best moving company in town.
Postcards is my favorite novel.
Plural Compound Nouns
Compound words create special problems when we need to pluralize them. As a general rule, the element within the compound that word that is pluralized will receive the plural -s, but it's not always that simple. Daughters-in-law follows the general rule, but cupfuls does not.
Problem Children
Many careful writers insist that the words data and media are Latin plurals and must, therefore, be used as plural words. The singular Latin forms of these words, however, are seldom used: datum as a single bit of information or medium as a single means of communication. Many authorities nowadays approve sentences like My data is lost. and The media is out to get the President. Even textbooks in computer science are beginning to use "data" as a singular.
Special Cases
With words that end in a consonant and a y, you'll need to change the y to an i and add es.
more than one baby = babies
more than one gallery = galleries(Notice the difference between this and galleys, where the final y is not preceded by a consonant.)
more than one reality = realities
This rule does not apply to proper nouns:
more than one Kennedy = Kennedys
Words that end in o create special problems.
more than one potato = potatoes
more than one hero = heroes. . . however . . .
more than one memo = memos
more than one cello = cellos. . . and for words where another vowel comes before the o . . .
more than one stereo = stereos
Plurals of words that end in -f or -fe usually change the f sound to a v sound and add s or -es.
more than one knife = knives
more than one leaf = leaves
more than one hoof = hooves
more than one life = lives
more than one self = selves
more than one elf = elves
There are, however, exceptions:
more than one dwarf = dwarfs
more than one roof = roofs
When in doubt, as always, consult a dictionary. Some dictionaries, for instance, will list both wharfs and wharves as acceptable plural forms of wharf. It makes for good arguments when you're playing Scrabble.
Collective Nouns, Company Names, Family Names, Sports Teams
There are, further, so called collective nouns, which are singular when we think of them as groups and plural when we think of the individuals acting within the whole (which happens sometimes, but not often).
audience band class committee crowd dozen
family flock group heap herd jury
kind lot [the] number public staff team
Thus, if we're talking about eggs, we could say "A dozen is probably not enough." But if we're talking partying with our friends, we could say, "A dozen are coming over this afternoon."
The jury delivers its verdict. [But] The jury came in and took their seats.
We could say the Tokyo String Quartet is one of the best string ensembles in the world, but we could say the Beatles were some of the most famous singers in history. Generally, band names and musical groups take singular or plural verbs depending on the form of their names: "The Mamas and the Papas were one of the best groups of the 70s" and "Metallica is my favorite band."
Note that "the number" is a singular collective noun. "The number of applicants is steadily increasing." "A number," on the other hand, is a plural form: "There are several students in the lobby. A number are here to see the president."
Collective nouns are count nouns which means they, themselves, can be pluralized: a university has several athletic teams and classes. And the immigrant families kept watch over their herds and flocks.
The word following the phrase one of the (as an object of the preposition of) will always be plural.
One of the reasons we do this is that it rains a lot in spring.
One of the students in this room is responsible.Notice, though, that the verb ("is") agrees with one, which is singular, and not with the object of the preposition, which is always plural.
When a family name (a proper noun) is pluralized, we almost always simply add an "s." So we go to visit the Sims, the Kongs, the Gohs, etc.When a family name ends in s, x, ch, sh, or z, however, we form the plural by added -es, as in the Marches, the Joneses, the Maddoxes, the Bushes, the Rodriguezes. Do not form a family name plural by using an apostrophe; that device is reserved for creating possessive forms.
When a proper noun ends in an "s" with a hard "z" sound, we don't add any ending to form the plural: "The Chambers are coming to dinner" (not the Chamberses); "The Hodges used to live here" (not the Hodgeses). There are exceptions even to this: we say "The Joneses are coming over," and we'd probably write "The Stevenses are coming, too." A modest proposal: women whose last names end in "s" (pronounced "z") should marry and take the names of men whose last names do not end with that sound, and eventually this problem will disappear.
The names of companies and other organizations are usually regarded as singular, regardless of their ending: "General Motors has announced its fall lineup of new vehicles." Try to avoid the inconsistency that is almost inevitable when you think of corporate entities as a group of individuals: "General Motors has announced their fall lineup of new vehicles." But note that some inconsistency is acceptable in all but the most formal writing: "Ford has announced its breakup with Firestone Tires. Their cars will no longer use tires built by Firestone." Some writers will use a plural verb when a plural construction such as "Associates" is part of the company's title or when the title consists of a series of names: "Upton, Vernon, and Gridley are moving to new law offices next week" or "Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego & Associates have won all their cases this year." Singular verbs and pronouns would be correct in those sentences, also.
The names of sports teams, on the other hand, are treated as plurals, regardless of the form of that name. We would write that "The Yankees have signed a new third baseman" and "The Yankees are a great organization" (even if we're Red Sox fans) and that "For two years in a row, the Utah Jazz have attempted to draft a big man." When we refer to a team by the city in which it resides, however, we use the singular, as in "Dallas has attempted to secure the services of two assistant coaches that Green Bay hopes to keep." (This is decidedly not a British practice. In the UK, the city or country names by which British newspapers refer to soccer teams, for example, are used as plurals — a practice that seems odd and inconsistent to American ears: "A minute's silence will precede the game at Le Stadium today, when Toulouse play Munster, and tomorrow at Lansdowne Road, when Leinster attempt to reach their first European final by beating Perpignan" [report in the online London Times].)
In a rare dictum-making mood, William Safire (in No Uncertain Terms, 2003) declares that pluralized names like Packers and Yankees should take plural verbs (obviously), but that team names like the Jazz, the Heat, the Lightning, the Connecticut Sun should take singular verbs. This dictum seems to prevail in Safire's own New York Times: "The [Miami] Heat, typical of its resilience at home, was far from through. " But just about everywhere else in the world of sports reporting, this is not the case. Even in the Times, an AP report asserts that "The Heat, down 2-0 in the East Conference semifinal series, have won 16 straight home games." The Boston Globe says that "the [New England] Revolution are reestablishing their reputation for resourcefulness and spirited play." and "the Heat were in it in the first half." The Hartford Courant writes that "When the Connecticut Sun play an exhibition game tonight in Houston, coach Mike Thibault will have two more players." Finally, NBA Media Ventures writes that "The Utah Jazz were expected to follow the rebuilding mode… ." [All quotations are from May 10th and 20th, 2004, online sources.)
Plurals and Apostrophes
We use an apostrophe to create plural forms in two limited situations: for pluralized letters of the alphabet and when we are trying to create the plural form of a word that refers to the word itself. Here we also should italicize this "word as word," but not the 's ending that belongs to it. Do not use the apostrophe+s to create the plural of acronyms (pronounceable abbreviations such as laser and IRA and URL*) and other abbreviations. (A possible exception to this last rule is an acronym that ends in "S": "We filed four NOS's in that folder.")
Jeffrey got four A's on his last report card.
Towanda learned very quickly to mind her p's and q's.
You have fifteen and's in that last paragraph.
Singular Subjects, Plural Predicates, etc.
We frequently run into a situation in which a singular subject is linked to a plural predicate:
My favorite breakfast is cereal with fruit, milk, orange juice, and toast.
Sometimes, too, a plural subject can be linked to singular predicate:
Mistakes in parallelism are the only problem here.
In such situations, remember that the number (singular or plural) of the subject, not the predicate, determines the number of the verb.
Adapted from http://webster.commnet.edu
I managed to read about half of the notes during my free time. Your comment sure was long =]
Maybe u could separate the post Mr. Grosse?
somehow, i still think that the back part is too wordy.
its not wordy.....its "too many words for me to read"
What is the plural of rhino? Is it rhinose? (Very bad joke)
Post a Comment
<< Home