Tagged Questions
-2
votes
1answer
93 views
Height and weight written out
In formal writing I like to do this (in British style):
The infant weighed 10lb 5oz;
a 10lb 5oz infant
He was 6ft 3in tall;
a 6ft 3in man
My question is about the plural usage: do we ...
-1
votes
1answer
251 views
Apostrophes and s's [duplicate]
I always forget the rule about if something is possessive put 's at the end, for example "the sailor's hat". I know some people say to remember because it has a different meaning if it's plural (e.g. ...
0
votes
1answer
339 views
Difference between “zeros” and “zeroes” [duplicate]
Are there any differences between “zeros” and “zeroes”? Is any of them more correct, more often used, more modern? Are there differences e.g. between British English and American English in the usage ...
2
votes
1answer
496 views
Should I say “3 half days” or “3 half-days” or “3 half-day”?
Should I say "3 half days" or "3 half-days" or "3 half-day"? I mean I want to refer to, for example, the a.m. of Monday, the p.m. of Wednesday, and the a.m. of Friday, together.
0
votes
2answers
146 views
Destroy or Destroys [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is a company always plural, or are small companies singular?
I came across a mocked up newspaper article earlier and there was a discussion about whether the following ...
0
votes
3answers
774 views
When the plural ends in “-ies”, how do I know whether the singular ends in “-y” or “-ie”? [closed]
my question is how am I supposed to recognize a singular form of a noun which plural form ends with "ies"? As you can see "cookies" are a "cookie" when singular, but at the same time "flies" stand for ...
5
votes
4answers
335 views
Usage of apostrophe in “baker’s dozen”
In the phrase “baker’s dozen”, why does the apostrophe indicate possession of a (single) baker? Shouldn't it indicate possession of all bakers in general? Shouldn’t it be “bakers’ dozen”?
22
votes
7answers
6k views
Plurals of acronyms, letters, numbers — use an apostrophe or not?
When I was in high school back in the 1970s, I was taught that to make a plural of an acronym, a letter, or a number, one should add an apostrophe and "s". Like I would have written this sentence, ...
11
votes
4answers
572 views
Why is there no consistency in the plural forms of words ending on an “f” (e.g. safe, roof, dwarf, etc.)?
The plural form of leaf is leaves, although according to Merriam-Webster leafs is also correct. Dwarf can be pluralized as either dwarfs or dwarves. Conversely, the words roof and safe are pluralized ...
1
vote
3answers
1k views
Why does the 3rd-person of verbs that end in -y follow the rule for plural nouns instead of verbs?
I don’t understand why the 3rd-person of verbs that end in -y such as cry, try, or fly follow the rule for pluralizing nouns like fly. Why do they become cries, tries, and flies instead of crys, trys, ...
5
votes
4answers
934 views
What is the plural of “BlackBerry” (as in the handheld device)
Is the plural of "BlackBerry", BlackBerries or BlackBerrys?
I am asking, because I'm altering the underlying brand name to look more like the food and less like the product, leaving the reader to ...
9
votes
4answers
783 views
Is there a good rule of thumb for plurals from words ending in “o”?
The following words and their plurals seem to be somewhat inconsistent:
combo / combos
concerto / concertos
grotto / grottos / grottoes (?)
hero / heros (?) / heroes
potato / potatos (?) / potatoes
...
12
votes
4answers
574 views
Why did they spell it “URL’s”?
I was reading this documentation file of some software and note the plural spelling of this abbreviation is “URL’s”. Why isn’t it “URLs”?
5
votes
5answers
471 views
Spelling and plural of abbreviation “hi vis”
We regularly use these "hi visibility jackets/vests":
We use them often enough to informally abbreviate it to simply "hi vis".
I am struggling as to how to pluralise such a term. In speech it ...
23
votes
2answers
2k views
What is the plural form of “zero”?
I tried looking on Google, but there are some fairly contradictory results.
I thought I'd ask you guys so we could get an authoritative answer on the subject!
8
votes
1answer
2k views
When should a singular word ending in “y” end in “ies” plurally?
Words like "sky" and "money" have "ies" as a plural suffix (i.e. "skies" and "monies") but other words like "monkey" and "Emmy" do not ("monkeys" and "Emmys"). Is there a rule dictating the use of ...
