![]() The rest of the world may assume that oranges are for sale and that each one costs a dollar. ![]() To be safe, avoid using an apostrophe to make a word plural. For irregular plurals that do not end in –s, we add –’s, e.g. The broom preferred by many witches is the witches’ favorite broom. The plural noun generally ends in –s already, so we add just an apostrophe. In formal documents, please use "Kansas’s primary" and "Congress’s recess." While the papers announce "Kansas’ primary" and "Congress’ recess" (a pattern, incidentally, adhered to by the Bulletin), the rule followed by curmudgeons like me is still to add an –’s to those singular forms, not just an apostrophe. Note that journalists get away with cutting corners. Similarly, if a witch has a favorite broom, we would call it the witch’s favorite broom. Thus, in the example above, the possessive of lawyer is lawyer’s. A singular noun becomes possessive with the addition of –’s. The possessive form is easy to form in the simplest cases. We call that fortunate state of affairs "possession." The lawyer may have a new car. Nouns are lucky because they get to have stuff. The plural of "child" is "children." A single "crisis" can become a series of "crises." A dictionary will generally list plurals for nouns that do not follow the basic forms. In addition to the many words that follow these simple rules, English is filled with words that have irregular plurals. So words that end in s, sh, x, z or ch typically take –es. If the noun ends in a sound that doesn’t readily combine with an s sound, English forms the plural by adding –es. ![]() As another example, the plural of statute is statutes. The office is singular, and the offices are plural.Īs shown in the two examples above, English typically forms the plural by adding –s. Folks of my generation remember from "Grammar Rock" that a noun is "a person, place or thing." When a noun refers to one person, place or thing, we call it "singular." When a noun refers to more than one person, place or thing, we call it "plural." So lawyer is singular, and lawyers are plural. ![]() This column is essentially about nouns in their various forms, some of which need apostrophes and some of which don’t. If you’re an English whiz, skip the next section and pick up with the hard stuff. Truss mark up your documents for faulty plurals and possessives, just review this short column. Truss and I were surely the only movie-goers who boycotted on grammatical grounds. The title should have been "Two Weeks’ Notice," though Ms. Truss knew that the two weeks hadn’t noticed anything, so the plural "weeks" was incorrect. Though rarer, words like “quiz” adopt “quizzes” for clarity and ease of pronunciation.A few years ago, a British writer named Lynne Truss became famous for a little book subtitled "The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation." On the back flap, she’s seen surreptitiously adding an apostrophe to a movie billboard for "Two Weeks Notice." Ms. The word “box” would be difficult to pronounce as “boxs”, so “boxes” is more natural. Nouns ending in -ss Singularĭoubling the “s” sound as in “dress” to “dresses” ensures clarity. Words like “bush” become “bushes” instead of “bushs” to prevent a jumbled sound. Nouns ending in -sh SingularĪquatic animals. Spiky desert plant – traditional plural is “cacti” following Latin pluralization, but “cactuses” is also accepted in modern usageįor nouns such as “bus” or “lens”, adding just an “-s” would create a hissing sound, making it unclear if we’re discussing one or multiple items. Hence, “churches” and “branches” are more phonetically coherent. Words like “church” or “branch” would sound awkward as “churchs” or “branchs”. Here’s a comprehensive list of nouns that form plural by adding “es” – Nouns ending in -ch Singular
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