Hi Friends,
There are certain words that came to English from Latin and became an integral part of the language. For example., 'premium', 'forum', 'medium' etc. These words are, of course, singular in their form. The 'correct' plural forms of these words are: 'premia', 'fora' and 'media'.
However, with the passage of time most of these loan words have lost or are losing their 'Latin purity'. Nowadys the majority of the common English speakers all around the world prefer to use 'premiums', 'forums', 'mediums' etc. as the plural forms of such words.
But in formal contexts, the pure forms (premia, fora and media) must be used. For example, in a textbook on Algebra, you may never see 'formulas' but 'formulae'. In ordinary conversations, nevertheless, the forms such as 'premiums', 'forums' etc. are not usually considered wrong, although a minority of grammarians are still fighting to retain the pure Latin plurals!!
Here are some more Latin beauties who lost their 'virginity' in English:
Nebula -- Nebulae(Latin plural), Nebulas(Eng plural)
Radius -- Radii, Radiuses
Fungus -- Fungii, Funguses
Cactus -- Cactii, Cactuses
Nucleus -- Nuclei, Nucleuses
Syllabus -- Syllabi, Syllabuses
Compiler: Jacob (Nova Eng Campus)
No comments:
Post a Comment