Slips of Speech : a Helpful Book for Everyone Who Aspires to Correct the Everyday Errors of Speaking eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 164 pages of information about Slips of Speech .

Slips of Speech : a Helpful Book for Everyone Who Aspires to Correct the Everyday Errors of Speaking eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 164 pages of information about Slips of Speech .

The chief objection to the last two forms is found when the proper name ends with s, as when we say, the Miss Brookses, the Miss Joneses, the Miss Pottses, the
  ________________________________________________
_________________

147

Miss Blisses.  The form the Misses Brooks is objected to by some on the ground that it sounds affected.  On the whole the rule given by Gould Brown is the best, and is quite generally observed.

Knight Templar

Both words are made plural, Knights Templars, a very unusual way of forming the plural.

Plural Compounds

The plural sign of a compound word is affixed to the principal part of the word, to the part that conveys the predominant idea; as, fathers-in-law, man-servants, outpourings, ingatherings.  In such words as handfuls, cupfuls, mouthfuls, the plural ending is added to the subordinate part because the ideas are so closely associated as to blend into one.

Beaus, Beaux

Some words ending in eau have only the English plurals, as bureaus, portmanteaus; others take both the English and the French plurals, as beaus, beaux; flambeaus, flambeaux; plateaus, plateaux; and still others take only the foreign plural; as, bateaux, chateaux, tableaux.

Pair, Couple, Brace

After numerals, the singular form of such words as these is generally employed; as, five pair of gloves, eight couple of dancers, three brace of pigeons, five
  ________________________________________________
_________________

148

dozen of eggs, four score years, twenty sail of ships, fifty head of cattle, six hundred of these men, two thousand of these cattle, etc.

After such indefinite adjectives as few, many, several, some of the above words take the plural form; as, several hundreds, many thousands.

Index, Appendix

Indexes of books; indices, if applied to mathematical signs in algebra.  Appendixes or appendices.

Fish, Fly

The plural of fish is fishes when considered individually, and fish when considered collectively.  “My three pet fishes feed out of my hand.”  “Six barrels of fish were landed from the schooner.”

Most words ending in y change this termination into ies, as duties, cities, etc.  The plural of fly, the insect, is formed in the usual manner, but fly, a light carriage, adds s; as, “Six flys carried the guests to their homes.”

Animalcule

The plural of this word is animalcules.  There is no plural animalculae.  The plural of the Latin animalculum is animalcula.

Bandit

This word has two plural forms, bandits and banditti.
____________________________________________________________
_____

149

Brother

Plural brothers, when referring to members of the same family; brethren, when applied to members of the same church or society.

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Slips of Speech : a Helpful Book for Everyone Who Aspires to Correct the Everyday Errors of Speaking from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.