Sometimes it take more than adding an “s”
In the English language, there are exceptions to every rule.
Some of the most maddening exceptions occur with spelling rules. For instance, it’s “i before e except after c”—unless it’s the fourth Thursday and there’s a full moon, right?
So, let’s look at “weird” plurals. And I say “weird” because pluralization is not always about adding an “s.”
With the singular form listed first, here are some words you can’t make plural just by adding an “s”:
• syllabus
• syllabi
• diagnosis
• diagnoses
• radius
• radii
• stratum
• strati
• nucleus
• nuclei
• focus
• foci
• fungus
• fungi
• crisis
• crises
• criterion
• criteria
• index
• indices
• appendix
• appendices
• ox
• oxen
• schema
• schemata
• seraph
• seraphim
• tableau
• tableaux
• die
• dice
Other words simply break the rules. For example, words ending in “o” are generally made plural by adding an “es,” such as potato/potatoes. But what about:
• memo
• memos
• cello
• cellos
Or how about:
• knife
• knives
• roof
• roofs
Or even:
• goose
• geese
• mongoose
• mongooses
And:
• man
• men
• woman
• women
• human
• humans
Then there are the words that are spelled the same in both the singular and plural form:
• deer
• moose
• sheep
• kudos
• premises
• shambles
And of course, there are words that are plural with no singular forms:
• alms
• amends
• doldrums
• pliers
• scissors
• shorts
• smithereens
• trousers
Readers, any other “weird plurals” to share?
A version of this article first appeared on Ragan Communication’s PR Daily.
