The Sydney Writers Centre advertises writing courses of all sorts and styles, some at the Centre and many on-line, but as a free tip today they sent a short piece on Plurals at http://www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au/ . I think it is worth sharing as many people get these areas wrong consistently.
TIP: The right way to plural
Noun plurals - there are so many irregularities here that it can sometimes be difficult to find the right word! Some of these may seem obvious but it’s amazing how many times people get it wrong.
Here are some handy rules for a few of those nasty irregular plurals:
* If the word ends with '-us' the plural form will end in '-i'
For example: cactus to cacti, nucleus to nuclei, focus to foci
* If the word ends with '-on' the plural will end
in '-a'
For example: phenomenon to phenomena,
criterion to criteria
* If the word ends with '-o' the plural will have an
'-es' added
For example: potato to potatoes or tomato to
tomatoes.
No comments:
Post a Comment