More on plurals
More on plurals
(OP)
Is there a general rule for the plurals of cargo, commando, dynamo, echo, embargo, embryo, folio, ghetto, hero, mosquito, motto, no, piano, potato, silo, studio, tornado, torpedo, veto, as examples ? In short when do the plurals end in -oes, and when in -os. Thanks.





RE: More on plurals
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RE: More on plurals
Not 100% sure
RE: More on plurals
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RE: More on plurals
I agree with what you pointed out. Examples would be potato (potatoes) or tomato (tomatoes) unless you are speaking to Dan Quayle who spells potato as potatoe
ietech
RE: More on plurals
RE: More on plurals
Good point.
I have been searching for a rule to address this and have found nothing. Maybe it's something we learn and repeat from memory. You would think there would be some guideline to cover this. I'll keep looking and post it if I find anything.
Regards,
ietech
RE: More on plurals
1. When a vowel precedes the final -o, then the plural usually ends in -os. (videos)
2. The plural of animal or plant names ending in -o usually ens in -oes. (tomatoes)
3. Words that are contractions of other words invariably end in -os. (hippos)
4. Foreign words and borrowed words end in -os. (boleros)
5. Multi-syllable words tend to end in -os. (manifestos)
6. Proper names forming plurals end in -os. (Romeos)
(Note that several of these "rules" contain a qualifier such as "generally"!)
For other cases, practice varies, and the preferred ending seems to be a matter of consensus or convention rather than rule.
RE: More on plurals
From what I saw elsewhere indexes is the preferred plural of index (of books) and indices is the correct plural for indicators and index numbers.
Any comments ?