Don’t let these plural forms trip you up
Bewildered. That’s how I feel when it comes to the rules of English spelling.
Writers and editors see it daily. I recently had to check the spelling of “subterfuge” because it couldn’t possibly be spelled “subterfuge” (it is).
One area of spelling that is particularly challenging: finding correct plural forms. These can trip writers up, because they’re difficult to spell and difficult to pronounce.
Below are 29 tricky plurals:
- antennae
- asterisks
- attorneys general
- axes (plural of axis)
- bases (plural of basis)
- courts-martial
- culs-de-sac
- diagnoses
- dos and don’ts
- emphases
- hippopotami
- jacks-in-the-box
- jack-o-lanterns
- memos
- mongooses
- mothers-in-law
- mottoes (plural of motto)
- neuroses
- oases (plural of oasis)
- octopuses
- parentheses
- passersby
- plateau
- runners-up
- sheaves (plural of sheaf)
- staves (plural of staff)
- syllabi
- theses (plural of thesis)
- yeses and nos
What others can you think of?
This post was also published on Ragan Communication’s PR Daily.
