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 "ies"?
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2 Answers
It's determined by the letter before the y:
- Monkey: vowel + y → monkeys
- sky: consonant + y → skies
Exception: proper nouns like "Emmy" sometimes form the plural by adding "s".
Monies I don't know about, so hopefully someone else can fill in that detail.
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1The question mentioned money → monies. Surely that is an exception too.– TimwiAug 30, 2010 at 13:21
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1@Timwi: you are right, again. Since "money" is not a singular but an uncountable noun, I'm not clear on that.– deleteAug 30, 2010 at 13:31
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6The word can be "moneys" or "monies". OED says: "In the plural, both moneys and monies are found in modern use; monies occurs especially in legal contexts." Also, I see many older entries in the OED for "monie" as a singular, so the legal term may have been created then, and then stayed around because of that (as often happens with legal terms, see British "judgement": english.stackexchange.com/questions/1623/judgment-or-judgement) Aug 30, 2010 at 14:02
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There's one in every crowd, has to break the rules. It's a bit weird if you ask me. Thanks for the answer.– soutarmSep 1, 2010 at 3:15
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1According to this, "monies" came into usage in the mid-19th century, after "moneys", so it's probably only an exception to the rule as a result of an alteration of the form which fit the rule. Aug 19, 2013 at 4:22
Monies is one of those words where an error crept in and is now accepted as an exception. The plural of money (and there IS a plural in legal and accounting) should be, and is still acceptable as, moneys, and then there isn't an exception.
The general rule - if the Y is preceded by a consonant, then it is replaced by ies. If the Y is preceded by a vowel, add s.
This also works for verbs (I carry - he carries, I play, he plays). Nice and consistent.
