Plural APPLES, TIGERS,

AND URDU

This tutorial helps you...

• Apply Standard English principles to form plurals of regular and irregular nouns, write compound nouns, and capitalize proper nouns

• Correctly spell, pronounce, and use the words presented in this chapter

• Use bias-free language

PLURAL OF NOUNS

ENDING WITH

• If preceded by a If preceded by a vowel--addvowel--add SS

• MonkeyMonkeys

If preceded by a consonant -- change

•DutyDuty•DutiesDuties

to

iand add eses

If the noun is a musical term ending in an O, add S• PiccoloPiccolo• SopranoSoprano

ss

If the noun ends in O and is not a musical term, add S or es

VetoVetoeses MemoMemoss

When in doubt, When in doubt, look it uplook it up

The dictionary is your friend

Some nouns ending in

• Loaf = LoaLoaf = Loavesves

• Scarf = ScarfScarf = Scarfss or or ScarScarvesves

Remember, if in doubt...

Sometimes a spelling change is Sometimes a spelling change is required to form a pluralrequired to form a plural

• Louse - Louses or Lice,Louse - Louses or Lice, depends on meaning (louses depends on meaning (louses are creepy people; lice are creepy insects)are creepy people; lice are creepy insects)

• Crisis - CrisesCrisis - Crises

• Criterion - Criteria or CriterionsCriterion - Criteria or Criterions

• Ox - OxenOx - Oxen

• Man -- MenMan -- Men

• Tooth -- TeethTooth -- Teeth

• Foot -- FeetFoot -- Feet

Sometimes spelling remains the same for plurals

• Japanese• Vietnamese• Aircraft• Salmon• Sheep• Trout• Deer• Statistics

Sometimes meaning determines the Sometimes meaning determines the use of a singular or plural verbuse of a singular or plural verb

Check the dictionaryCheck the dictionary for for ““use with sing. verb”use with sing. verb” or or ““pl. noun”pl. noun” oror ““pl.n.used as sing.”pl.n.used as sing.”

Phonetics Phonetics isis important to shorthand

The trousers trousers areare too long.

Do not change the spelling of proper nouns to make them plural.

• Mary = MarysMary = Marys– We had threeWe had three MarysMarys in class.in class.

• Wolf = WolfsWolf = Wolfs– All theAll the WolfsWolfs came to the reunion.came to the reunion.

to determine whether to space between, write as one word or hyphenate Close-up Eye-opener

Use the

Hand-me-downs Tie-in

Brother-in-law

Follow-up Name-dropper

• Back talkBack talk

• Time clockTime clock

• Tongue twisterTongue twister

• Short circuitShort circuit

(note: (note: space betweenspace between))

• DollhouseDollhouse• CheckbookCheckbook• DeadlockDeadlock• BlowoutBlowout• BookstoreBookstore

Note: Note: written as one wordwritten as one word

Use the dictionary to Use the dictionary to determine which part of the determine which part of the compound to make plural.compound to make plural.

headline s write-off s

brother - in - lawsletter of credits

Here are some “capital ideas”…• Capitalize official titles (unless they follow name)

– President Jimmy Carter owned a peanut farm.– Jimmy Carter was president from 1977-1981.

• Capitalize titles that follow names in addresses– Jimmy Carter, President

• Don’t capitalize if a noun/pronoun precedes title– I wrote to my president about the war.

• Organizational words are usually capitalized only when associated with a specific entity– I go to college.– I go to Winston College.

• Capitalize definite geographic locations

– He lives in the North, but talks like a Southerner.

• Don’t capitalize general directions

– Go east on Eastern Avenue for five blocks.

• Always capitalize names of languages and official courses

– I learned Urdu in my Asian Language class.

– Are you taking any language classes this fall?

• Races referenced by color are lowercase, but sociological references are capitalized. So are religions

– white/Caucasian black/African American

– Christianity Judaism Islam Buddhism

Avoid workplace language that unnecessarily focuses on someone’s age, physical characteristics, nationality, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or political beliefs.

Be aware of acceptable terms for nationalities, races, and religions.

• An African American networking specialist is the keynote speaker at the Computer Hardware Convention.

• A networking specialist is the keynote speaker at the Computer Hardware A networking specialist is the keynote speaker at the Computer Hardware ConventionConvention..

• African American networking specialist Marva Jones will be the keynote speaker at the African American Computer Scientists conference.

Which of these three sentences should be avoided in a bias-free workplace?

Jean Chung, the blind transcriber, doesn’t need the

new lighting fixture.

Because she is blind, transcriber Jean Chung doesn’t need the new lighting fixture.

Which of these two sentences should be avoided in a bias-free workplace?

Sue Clark is the new female CEO.

Sue Clark is the new CEO.

AVOIDbusinessman mankind manmade

chairman male nurse stewardess

TRYexecutive humanity synthetic

moderator nurse flight attendant

You have seen how to

• Apply Standard English principles to form plurals of regular and irregular nouns, write compound nouns, and capitalize proper nouns

• Correctly spell, pronounce, and use the words presented in this chapter

• Use bias-free language