Standard dictionaries will list the preferred alternative first. Singularįor some words, one or other of the plural forms is preferred in British or American English. Many words retain the plural form from the parent language but have an alternative plural based on English rules (adding -s or -es). Nouns with both regular and irregular plurals
Thanks to everyone who follows us on Twitter. For her trip, Rita packed her binoculars and goggles as well as a spare pair of spectacles. Poco bought himself a new pair of trousers for the alien invasion. These scissors aren’t sharp enough to cut paper. The preferred spelling ( syllab i/ syllabus es, matri ces/ matrix es, flamingo s/ flamingo es) is that which is listed first. (Latin nouns fall into categories called declensions, and this determines how they. As the OED says, the plural form octopi arises from apprehension of the final -us of the word as the grammatical ending of Latin second declension nouns. Standard dictionaries (such as Cambridge for British English and Merriam-Webster for American) include in their word entries the plural forms of count nouns. The us ending of octopus is merely part of the Greek element pous (from pod, for foot). Plurals of compound nouns are formed by following the plural spelling of the original word ( gun men, bookshel ves, lactobacill i). Some words do not change spelling in the plural ( sheep, deer, moose), while others are always used in the plural ( scissor s, spectacle s, sunglass es). Some nouns have both regular and irregular plurals ( index es/ ind ices, formula s/ formul ae), one or other of which may be preferred in British or American English. Irregular plurals also often follow a pattern, originating sometimes in the parent language or rules of older forms of English ( child ren, criter ia, oas es, g eese, m ice, ind ices). Regular plurals of nouns are formed by adding -s, -es, or -ies to the singular (e.g., girl s, virus es, dut ies).
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