Formation of plural nouns

BY JULLIA KIT ESTRADA

The plural noun is generally formed by adding -s to the singular.

Cow (singular), cows (plural)
Boy, boys
Girl, girls
BOOK , books
Tree, trees
Dog, dogs
Pen, pens
Nouns ending in -s, -sh, -ch or -x form the plural by adding -es to the singular.
Class (singular), classes (plural)
Brush, brushes
Kiss, kisses
Match, matches
Dish, dishes
Most nouns ending in -o also form their plural by adding -es to the singular.
Mango (singular), mangoes (plural)
Hero, heroes
Potato, potatoes
Volcano, volcanoes
Note that a few nouns ending in -o merely add -s.

Dynamo (singular), dynamos (plural)

Piano, pianos
Photo, photos
Logo, logos
Kilo, kilos
Nouns ending in a consonant + y form their plural by changing -y into -i and adding -es.
Baby (singular), babies (plural)
Lady, ladies
City, cities
Story, stories
The following nouns ending in -f or -fe form their plural by changing -f or -fe into v and
adding -es.
Thief (singular), thieves (plural)
Wife, wives
Leaf, leaves
Half, halves
Self, selves
Calf, calves
Loaf, loaves
Knife, knives
Elf, elves
Wolf, wolves
Shelf, shelves
Most other nouns ending in -f or -fe add -s.
Chief (singular), chiefs
Gulf, gulfs

Safe, safes
Proof, proofs
A few nouns form their plural by making some changes to inside vowels.
Foot (singular), feet (plural)
Man, men
Woman, women
Tooth, teeth
Mouse, mice
Goose, geese

PLURAL FORMS OF NOUN

BY JULLIA KIT ESTRADA

I. Regular plurals
The regular plural is formed by adding the suffix -s to the singular: e.g. cat cats, table
tables.

II. Irregular plurals

1. Nouns in -ss, -sh, -ch, -x
Nouns ending in -ss, -sh, -ch, -x form their plural by adding -es:
e.g. glass glasses, dish dishes, peach peaches, box boxes.
2. Nouns in -o
Nouns ending in -o form their plural by adding -es if they are used frequently they have
been introduced into English early:
e.g. tomato tomatoes, hero heroes
They add -s only if they are of foreign origin or abbreviated words:
e.g. bamboo bamboos, kilo kilos.
A number of nouns ending in -o can take both -s and -es:
e.g. tornado tornados or tornadoes, motto mottos or mottoes.
3. Nouns in -y
Nouns ending in -y preceded by a consonant form their plural by changing -y into -i and
adding -es:
e.g. fly flies, country countries.
Nouns ending in -y preceded by a vowel form their plural by adding -s only:
e.g. boy boys, journey journeys.
4. Nouns in -f or -fe
The following nouns ending in -f or -fe form their plural by changing the -f into -adding
-es:
e.g. calf calves, wife wives. These are the following nouns:
calf, life, shelf, half, loaf, thief, knife, self, wife, leaf, sheaf, wolf
Some nouns ending in -f can either take -s or change the -f into -v- and add -es

e.g. dwarf dwarfs or dwarves scarf scarfs or scarves.

Other nouns ending in -f or -fe form their plural in the regular way:
e.g. handkerchief handkerchiefs, fife fifes.
5. Mutation
The following nouns form their plural by a vowel change:
foot feet, louse lice, man men, goose geese, mouse mice, woman
women, tooth teeth
6. The -en plural
The following nouns form their plural by adding -en to the singular:
brother brethren (i.e. 'fellow members of a religious society') child children ox
oxen.
7. Foreign nouns
Words of foreign origin often form their plural according to the rules of a specific
language:
a) Latin: stimulus stimuli, larva larvae, curriculum curricula, codex codices.
b) Greek: basis bases, criterion criteria.
c) French: bureau - beueaux
d) Italian: tempo - tempi
However, foreign plurals sometimes occur along with regular plurals:
e.g. index indices, indexes , antenna antennae, antennas, which indicate two
different meanings or only the regular plural is used:
e.g. album albums, metropolis metropolises.
8. Zero plural
Some nouns do not have a separate plural form:
a) the names of certain animals, birds, and fish: e.g. sheep, grouse, trout
A sheep is a grass-eating animal.
Sheep are kept for their flesh as food and for their wool.
b) nouns denoting people of one nationality and ending in -ese or -ss:
e.g. Vietnamese, Swiss
Yesterday I met a Vietnamese.
The Vietnamese are natives of Vietnam.
c) craft (meaning 'boat') and aircraft:
e.g. I have a handy and useful little craft.
You can see all kinds of craft in the harbour.
d) definite numbers and measurements:
e.g. two hundred years, two score eggs
but indefinite numbers and measurements take the plural form:

e.g. hundreds of years, kilos of oranges.

Note that the form five kilos of oranges is also used.
e) offspring occurs with a singular verb if it refers to one human or animal and it is
followed by a plural verb if it refers to more than one:
e.g. Their offspring is extremely intelligent. Their offspring are all slightly stupid.
9. Compounds
a) The final element of compounds is usually pluralized:
e.g. breakdown breakdowns, bookcase bookcases.
b) In compounds whose first element is man or woman both elements are made plural:
e.g. gentleman farmer gentlemen farmers woman doctor women doctors.
c) Compounds consisting of countable nouns and prepositions or prepositional phrases
take the plural inflection on nouns:
e.g. passer-by passers-by, mother-in-law mothers-in-law. d) Compounds formed
by verbs or adjectives and prepositions take the plural at the end:
eg.take-off take-offs, grown-up grown-ups.
e) Compounds (typical of legal English) consisting of countable nouns and lake the
plural inflexion on nouns:
e.g. attorney general attorneys general, notary public notaries public
but it is also possible to have alternative forms:
e.g. court-martials, postmaster-generals
f) Nouns ending in -ful become plural in two ways:
e.g. spoonful spoonfuls, handful handfuls or handsful.
g) Compounds whose last element is a mass noun do not form the plural:
e.g. sunshine,HOMEWORK .
10) Proper nouns
Only surnames can be used in the plural and then they denote a family. Such plurals
are formed by adding -s:
e.g. Mr. and Mrs. Brown = the Browns
Mr. and Mrs. Crosby = the Crosbys
except for names ending in a sibilant as in Mr. and Mrs. James = the Jameses, where
-es in added.
Rules in forming the plural of nouns. The spelling rules of plural nouns.

General rules
Regular spelling

Singular

Plural

'-s' in most cases

'-es' when a noun ends with:

WARNING:
words of foreign origin take '-s'

cat

cats

tub

tubs

dog

dogs

house

houses

potato

potatoes

tomato

tomatoes

-ss

class

classes

-x

box

boxes

-ch

watch

watches

-sh

bush

bushes

-o

dynamo

dynamos

kilo

kilos

kimono

kimonos

photo

photos

piano

pianos

soprano

sopranos

-o

consonant + -y turns into

vowel + y takes '-s'

ies

country

countries

baby

babies

fly

flies

lady

ladies

cry

cries

-ay

day

days

-ey

key

keys

-oy

boy

boys

-uy

guy

guys

Fry

the Frys

Kennedy

the Kennedys

loaf

loaves

knife

knives

life

lives

calf

calves

leaf

leaves

proper nouns

nouns ending with -f / -fe

-ves

EXCEPTIONS

some nouns have both forms

nouns which change vowels

-s or -ves

shelf

shelves

thief

thieves

wife

wives

wolf

wolves

half

halves

wharf

wharves

chief

chiefs

cliff

cliffs

handkerchief

handkerchiefs

roof

roofs

hoof

hoofs / hooves

scarf

scarfs / scarves

dwarf

dwarfs / dwarves

foot

feet

louse

lice

mouse

mice

woman

women

goose

geese

man

men

tooth

teeth

child

children

ox

oxen

PLURAL NOUN FORMS

BY JULLIA KIT ESTRADA

Thepluralformofmostnounsiscreatedsimplybyaddingtheletters.

morethanonesnake=snakes

morethanoneski=skis

morethanoneBarrymore=Barrymores

Wordsthatendinch,x,sorslikesounds,however,willrequireanesforthe
plural:

morethanonewitch=witches

morethanonebox=boxes

morethanonegas=gases

morethanonebus=buses

morethanonekiss=kisses

morethanoneJones=Joneses

Notethatsomedictionarieslist"busses"asanacceptablepluralfor"bus."
Presumably,thisisbecausetheplural"buses"lookslikeitoughttorhymewiththe
pluralof"fuse,"whichis"fuses.""Buses"isstilllistedasthepreferablepluralform.
"Busses"istheplural,ofcourse,for"buss,"aseldomusedwordfor"kiss."
Thereareseveralnounsthathaveirregularpluralforms.Pluralsformedinthis
wayaresometimescalledmutated(ormutating)plurals.

morethanonechild=children

morethanonewoman=women

morethanoneman=men

morethanoneperson=people

morethanonegoose=geese

morethanonemouse=mice

morethanonebarracks=barracks

morethanonedeer=deer

And,finally,therearenounsthatmaintaintheirLatinorGreekformintheplural.
(Seemediaanddataandalumni,below.)

morethanonenucleus=nuclei

morethanonesyllabus=syllabi

morethanonefocus=foci

morethanonefungus=fungi

morethanonecactus=cacti(cactusesisacceptable)

morethanonethesis=theses

morethanonecrisis=crises*

morethanonephenomenon=phenomena

morethanoneindex=indices(indexesisacceptable)

morethanoneappendix=appendices(appendixesisacceptable)

morethanonecriterion=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.

Ahandfulofnounsappeartobepluralinformbuttakeasingularverb:

Thenewsisbad.

Gymnasticsisfuntowatch.

Economics/mathematics/statisticsissaidtobedifficult.("Economics"cansometimesbea
pluralconcept,asin"Theeconomicsofthesituationdemandthat....")

Numericalexpressionsareusuallysingular,butcanbepluraliftheindividuals
withinanumericalgroupareactingindividually:

Fiftythousanddollarsisalotofmoney.

Onehalfofthefacultyisretiringthissummer.

Onehalfofthefacultyhavedoctorates.

Fiftypercentofthestudentshavevotedalready.

Andanotherhandfulofnounsmightseemtobesingularinnaturebuttakea
pluralformandalwaysuseapluralverb:

Mypantsaretorn.(Nowadaysyouwillsometimesseethiswordasasingular"pant"
[meaningonepairofpants]especiallyinclothingads,butmostwriterswouldregardthat
asanaffectation.)

Herscissorswerestolen.

Theglasseshaveslippeddownhisnoseagain.

Whenanounnamesthetitleofsomethingorisawordbeingusedasaword,itis
singularwhetherthewordtakesasingularformornot.

Facesisthenameofthenewrestaurantdowntown.

Okies,whichmostpeopleregardasadisparagingword,wasfirstusedtodescribethe
residentsofOklahomaduringthe1930s.

ChelmsleyBrothersisthebestmovingcompanyintown.

Postcardsismyfavoritenovel.

ThetermOkieswasusedtodescribetheresidentsofOklahomaduringthe1930s.(Inthis
sentence,thewordOkiesisactuallyanappositiveforthesingularsubject,"term.")

Plural Compound Nouns

Compoundwordscreatespecialproblemswhenweneedtopluralizethem.Asa
generalrule,theelementwithinthecompoundthatwordthatispluralizedwillreceive
theplurals,butit'snotalwaysthatsimple.Daughtersinlawfollowsthegeneral
rule,butcupfulsdoesnot.SeethespecialsectiononCompoundNounsand
Modifiersor,betteryet,agooddictionary,foradditionalhelp.
Problem Children
ManycarefulwritersinsistthatthewordsdataandmediaareLatinpluralsand
must,therefore,beusedaspluralwords.ThesingularLatinformsofthesewords,
however,areseldomused:datumasasinglebitofinformationormediumasasingle
meansofcommunication.ManyauthoritiesnowadaysapprovesentenceslikeMy
dataislost.andThemediaisouttogetthePresident.Eventextbooksincomputer
sciencearebeginningtouse"data"asasingular.

Alumniandalumnaeremainproblematic.Thepluralofmasculine
singularalumnusisalumni;thepluraloffemininesingularalumnaisalumnae.In
traditionalLatin,themasculinepluralform,alumni,couldincludebothgenders.This
doesnotgooverwellwithsomefemalealums.Wenote,furthermore,thatVassar
College,whichnowhasboth,haslistsofalumniandalumnae.HartfordCollegefor
Women,weassume,hasonlyalumnae.Initspublicationstylemanual,Wesleyan
Universityapprovesofalumni/ae.Thegenderlessgraduateandthetruncatedand
informalalumhavemuchtocommendthem.
Special Cases
Withwordsthatendinaconsonantanday,you'llneedtochangetheytoaniand
addes.

morethanonebaby=babies

morethanonegallery=galleries
(Noticethedifferencebetweenthisandgalleys,wherethefinalyisnotprecededbya
consonant.)

morethanonereality=realities
Thisruledoesnotapplytopropernouns:

morethanoneKennedy=Kennedys

Wordsthatendinocreatespecialproblems.

morethanonepotato=potatoes

morethanonehero=heroes
...however...

morethanonememo=memos

morethanonecello=cellos
...andforwordswhereanothervowelcomesbeforetheo...

morethanonestereo=stereos

Pluralsofwordsthatendinforfeusuallychangethefsoundtoavsoundand
addsores.

morethanoneknife=knives

morethanoneleaf=leaves

morethanonehoof=hooves

morethanonelife=lives

morethanoneself=selves

morethanoneelf=elves

Thereare,however,exceptions:

morethanonedwarf=dwarfs

morethanoneroof=roofs

Whenindoubt,asalways,consultadictionary.Somedictionaries,forinstance,
willlistbothwharfsandwharvesasacceptablepluralformsofwharf.Itmakesfor
goodargumentswhenyou'replayingScrabble.TheonlineversionofMerriam
Webster'sWWWebsterDictionaryshouldhelp.
Collective Nouns, Company Names,
Family Names, Sports Teams
Thereare,further,socalledcollectivenouns,whicharesingularwhenwethink
ofthemasgroupsandpluralwhenwethinkoftheindividualsactingwithinthewhole
(whichhappenssometimes,butnotoften).

audience
band
class
committee
crowd
dozen

family
flock
group
heap
herd
jury

kind
lot
[the]
number
public
staf
team

Thus,ifwe'retalkingabouteggs,wecouldsay"Adozenisprobablynot
enough."Butifwe'retalkingpartyingwithourfriends,wecouldsay,"A
dozenarecomingoverthisafternoon."Thejurydeliversitsverdict.[But]Thejury
cameinandtooktheirseats.WecouldsaytheTokyoStringQuartetisoneofthebest
stringensemblesintheworld,butwecouldsaytheBeatlesweresomeofthemost
famoussingersinhistory.Generally,bandnamesandmusicalgroupstakesingularor
pluralverbsdependingontheformoftheirnames:"TheMamasandthe
Papaswereoneofthebestgroupsofthe70s"and"Metallicaismyfavoriteband."
Notethat"thenumber"isasingularcollectivenoun."Thenumberof
applicantsissteadilyincreasing.""Anumber,"ontheotherhand,isapluralform:
"Thereareseveralstudentsinthelobby.Anumber

areheretoseethepresident."
Collectivenounsarecountnounswhichmeansthey,themselves,canbe
pluralized:auniversityhasseveralathleticteamsandclasses.Andthe
immigrantfamilieskeptwatchovertheirherdsandflocks.
Thewordfollowingthephraseoneofthe(asanobjectoftheprepositionof)will
alwaysbeplural.

Oneofthereasonswedothisisthatitrainsalotinspring.

OneofthestudentsinthisROOM isresponsible.

Notice, though, that the verb ("is") agrees with one, which is
singular, and not with the object of the preposition, which is always
plural.
Whenafamilyname(apropernoun)ispluralized,wealmostalwayssimplyadd
an"s."SowegotovisittheSmiths,theKennedys,theGrays,etc.Whenafamily
nameendsins,x,ch,sh,orz,however,weformthepluralbyaddedes,asinthe
Marches,theJoneses,theMaddoxes,theBushes,theRodriguezes.Donotforma
familynamepluralbyusinganapostrophe;thatdeviceisreservedforcreating
possessiveforms.

Whenapropernounendsinan"s"withahard"z"sound,wedon'taddany
endingtoformtheplural:"TheChambersarecomingtodinner"(notthe
Chamberses);"TheHodgesusedtolivehere"(nottheHodgeses).Thereare
exceptionseventothis:wesay"TheJonesesarecomingover,"andwe'dprobably
write"TheStevensesarecoming,too."Amodestproposal:womenwhoselastnames
endin"s"(pronounced"z")shouldmarryandtakethenamesofmenwhoselast
namesdonotendwiththatsound,andeventuallythisproblemwilldisappear.
Thenamesofcompaniesandotherorganizationsareusuallyregardedas
singular,regardlessoftheirending:"GeneralMotorshasannounceditsfalllineupof
newvehicles."Trytoavoidtheinconsistencythatisalmostinevitablewhenyouthink
ofcorporateentitiesasagroupofindividuals:"General
Motorshasannouncedtheirfalllineupofnewvehicles."Butnotethatsome
inconsistencyisacceptableinallbutthemostformalwriting:"Fordhasannouncedits
breakupwithFirestoneTires.TheircarswillnolongerusetiresbuiltbyFirestone."
Somewriterswilluseapluralverbwhenapluralconstructionsuchas"Associates"is
partofthecompany'stitleorwhenthetitleconsistsofaseriesofnames:"Upton,
Vernon,andGridleyaremovingtonewlawofficesnextweek"or"Shadrach,
Meshach,Abednego&Associateshavewonalltheircasesthisyear."Singularverbs
andpronounswouldbecorrectinthosesentences,also.
Thenamesofsportsteams,ontheotherhand,aretreatedasplurals,regardless
oftheformofthatname.Wewouldwritethat"TheYankeeshavesignedanewthird
baseman"and"TheYankeesareagreatorganization"(evenifwe'reRedSoxfans)
andthat"Fortwoyearsinarow,theUtahJazzhaveattemptedtodraftabigman."
Whenwerefertoateambythecityinwhichitresides,however,weusethesingular,
asin"DallashasattemptedtosecuretheservicesoftwoassistantcoachesthatGreen
Bayhopestokeep."(ThisisdecidedlynotaBritishpractice.IntheUK,thecityor
countrynamesbywhichBritishnewspapersrefertosoccerteams,forexample,are
usedaspluralsapracticethatseemsoddandinconsistenttoAmericanears:"A
minute'ssilencewillprecedethegameatLeStadiumtoday,when
ToulouseplayMunster,andtomorrowatLansdowneRoad,whenLeinsterattemptto
reachtheirfirstEuropeanfinalbybeatingPerpignan"[reportintheonlineLondon
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 werein 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

Weuseanapostrophetocreatepluralformsintwolimitedsituations:for
pluralizedlettersofthealphabetandwhenwearetryingtocreatethepluralformofa
wordthatreferstotheworditself.Herewealsoshoulditalicizethis"wordasword,"
butnotthe'sendingthatbelongstoit.Donotusetheapostrophe+stocreatetheplural
ofacronyms(pronounceableabbreviationssuchaslaserandIRAandURL*)and
otherabbreviations.(Apossibleexceptiontothislastruleisanacronymthatendsin
"S":"WefiledfourNOS'sinthatfolder.")

JeffreygotfourA'sonhislastreportcard.

Towandalearnedveryquicklytomindherp'sandq's.

Youhavefifteenand'sinthatlastparagraph.

Noticethatwedonotuseanapostrophestocreatethepluralofawordinitself.For
instance,wewouldrefertothe"insandouts"ofamystery,the"yesesandnos"ofa
vote(NYPLWriter'sGuidetoStyleandUsage),andweassumethatTheodore
BernsteinknewwhathewastalkingaboutinhisBOOK Dos,Don'ts&Maybesof
EnglishUsage.Wewouldalsowrite"Theshortstopmadetwospectacularoutsinthat
inning."Butwhenwerefertoawordasaword,wefirstitalicizeitIpointedout
theuseofthewordoutinthatsentence.andifnecessary,wepluralizeitbyadding
theunitalicizedapostrophes"Inhisessayonprepositions,Joseusedan
astonishingthreedozenout's."Thispracticeisnotuniversallyfollowed,andin
newspapers,youwouldfindourexamplesentencewrittenwithoutitalicsor
apostrophe:"Youhavefifteenandsinthatlastparagraph."
Someabbreviationshaveembeddedpluralforms,andthereareoften
inconsistenciesincreatingthepluralsofthesewords.Thespeedofaninternal
combustionengineismeasuredin"revolutionsperminute"orrpm(lowercase)and
theefficiencyofanautomobileisreportedin"milespergallon"ormpg(no"s"
endings).Ontheotherhand,baseballplayerslovetoaccumulate"runsbattedin,"a

statisticthatisusuallyreportedasRBIs(althoughitwouldnotbeterriblyunusualto
hearthatsomeonegot100RBIlastyearandsomebaseballcommentatorswilltalk
about"ribbies,"too).Also,theU.S.militaryprovides"mealsreadytoeat"andthose
rationsareusuallydescribedasMREs(notMRE).Whenanabbreviationcanbeused
torefertoasingularthingarunbattedin,amealreadytoeat,aprisonerofwar
it'ssurelyagoodideatoformthepluralbyadding"s"totheabbreviation:RBIs,
MREs,POWs.(Noticethatnoapostropheisinvolvedintheformationofthese
plurals.Whetherabbreviationsliketheseareformedwithupperorlowercaseletters
isamatterofgreatmystery;onlyyourdictionaryeditorknowsforsure.)
Notice,furthermore,thatwedonotuseanapostrophetocreatepluralsinthe
following:

The1890sinEuropearewidelyregardedasyearsofsocialdecadence.

Ihaveprepared1099sfortheentirestaff.

RosaandherbrotherhaveidenticalIQs,andtheybothhavePhDsfromHarvard.

Shehasover400URLs*inherbookmarkfile.

Authority for this last paragraph: Keys for Writers: A Brief Handbook by Ann Raimes. Houghton Mifflin: New York.
1996.

Singular Subjects, Plural Predicates, etc.

Wefrequentlyrunintoasituationinwhichasingularsubjectislinkedtoaplural
predicate:

Myfavoritebreakfastiscerealwithfruit,milk,orangejuice,andtoast.

Sometimes,too,apluralsubjectcanbelinkedtosingularpredicate:

Mistakesinparallelismaretheonlyproblemhere.

Insuchsituations,rememberthatthenumber(singularorplural)ofthesubject,not
thepredicate,determinesthenumberoftheverb.SeethesectiononSubjectVerb
Agreementforfurtherhelp.
Aspecialsituationexistswhenasubjectseemsnottoagreewithitspredicate.For
instance,whenwewanteachstudenttoseehisorhercounselor(andeachstudentis
assignedtoonlyonecounselor),butwewanttoavoidthat"hisorher"constructionby
pluralizing,dowesay"Studentsmustseetheircounselors"or"Studentsmustsee

theircounselor"?Thesingularcounselorisnecesssarytoavoidtheimplicationthat
studentshavemorethanonecounselorapiece.Dowesay"Manysonsdislike
theirfatherorfathers"?Wedon'tmeantosuggestthatthesonshavemorethanone
father,soweusethesingularfather.TheodoreBernstein,inDos,Don'tsandMaybes
ofEnglishUsage,saysthat"Idiomaticallythenounapplyingtomorethanoneperson
remainsinthesingularwhen(a)itrepresentsaqualityorthingpossessedincommon
("Theaudience'scuriositywasaroused");or(b)itisanabstraction("Thejudges
appliedtheirreasontotheproblem"),or(c)itisafigurativeword("Alltenchildren
hadasweettooth")(203).Sometimesgoodsensewillhavetoguideyou.Wemight
wanttosay"Puzzled,thechildrenscratchedtheirhead"toavoidtheimageofmulti
headedchildren,but"Theaudiencerosetotheirfoot"isplainlyridiculousandabout
totipover.
In"Theboysmovedtheircar/cars,"thepluralwouldindicatethateachboy
ownedacar,thesingularthattheboys(together)ownedonecar(whichisquite
possible).Itisalsopossiblethateachboyownedmorethanonecar.Bepreparedfor
suchsituations,andconsidercarefullytheimplicationsofusingeitherthesingularor
theplural.Youmighthavetoavoidtheproblembygoingtheoppositedirectionof
pluralizing:movingthingstothesingularandtalkingaboutwhateachboydid.
*The jury still seems to be out on whether URL (acronym for Uniform [or Universal] Resource Locator), the address of
a Website on the World Wide Web, should be pronounced like the name of your Uncle Earl or as a series of letters:
U*R*L. The information technology experts at the college where I work use the "earl" pronunciation, and one would
have to ask why you'd want to say "you-are-ell" when a simple "earl" would suffice. In either case, though, the plural
of URL would be spelled URLs. The New York Times, by the way, would insist on U.R.L.'s because their style guide
requires that everything be capitalized in headlines and URLS would look dumb in a headline. So use URLs unless
you're writing for the New York Times.