Hi Readers!
I feel so glad to hear that many of you found the 'SINGULAR-PLURAL CONUNDRUM' (published on 15.04.2010) informative. Here I am, as many of you requested, posting an addition to that blog. If you are a first time visitor, please read my blog of 15th April so that you may get a better understanding of the following description.
As we discussed yesterday, many of the Latin words which came to English have two plural forms (E.g., Nebula(singular) - Nebulae(Latin plural) / Nebulas(Anglicised plural). An important thing to note is that Latin plurals like 'nebulae' are used only in formal or technical contexts, and the simpler ones like 'nebulas' are used mostly in informal situations (everyday conversations).
Interestingly, there are so many foreign words that have become completely naturalised and their original plural form is rarely used.
S o m e e x a m p l e s: (The plurals given in bold black letters are nowadays more common)
area - areas (Eng plural) (Latin plural= areae)
bonus - bonuses
campus - campuses
genius - geniuses
virus - viruses
dilemma - dilemmas
encyclopedia - encyclopedias
quota - quotas
museum - museums
album - album
metropolis - metropolis
electron - electrons etc.
Good Night from Jack
Nova English Campus
1 comment:
Dear Mr Jack,
I also liked your April 15th blog. It was really informative. I liked the way you used 'virginity' instead of originality of the words. Same is the case with the latest addition as well.
But, I am not clear about the examples you mentioned in the concluding part of the post. I mean it is not clear that the original plurals of the words are different to their latest version or not. Could you please throw some light on the latin plural forms of bonus, campus etc.
With Love, Blessings and Regards,
POOJA
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