LL-L "Morphology" 2007.12.12 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  12 December 2007 - Volume 02
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: Roger Hondshoven <rhondshoven at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "Morphology" 2007.11.13 (03) [E]

Hi Heather,
My Concise Oxford Dictionary tells me that clergymen is quite all right.
People can get an -s if it denotes a race or nation, e.g. the peoples of the
Commonwealth. And actually, I don't see any objection to cows, pop singers
and socialists.

Rgards,

Roger Hondshoven

From: heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk < heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Morphology" 2007.11.13 (02) [E]

Ron or Ronnie or ( dare I say it) Ronsey-Wonsey started us off on the odd
use of -s in names



I have used the article below in training Foreign language Assistants for
years. It originally appeared in either the Times or the Telegraph and makes
me crease up every time I read it. I hope the List enjoys it too.

(c) MIles Kington ( who is a well known comic writer )

**

*Miles Kington      *

*A singular Curiosity of English*



As people leaving school have such a shaky grasp of English, I am starting
an occasional series on English Grammar. I would like to kick off with one
of the commonest grammatical dicta in English: that you form the plural of a
noun by adding's'.



Nothing could be further than the truth! In English any letter can be used
to form the plural. In fact 's' is more commonly used to form the *singular*.




Look at my opening paragraph. There are two words in the plural – *people*and
*dicta* and neither ends in 's'. There is one noun ending in 's' –
*series*; and it is singular.



And yet our children are taught that the plural is formed with 's'! A quick
tour of the alphabet will tell a different story.



*A** *  a plural formed by 'a' is normally literary or commercial e.g.
curricula, data, incunabula, media, strata.

* *

*B*   A plural mostly used in fish as in "The chubb are not biting today"
But the plural of 'yob' is 'mob', a rare example of the first letter
changing.



*C*   The plural of "A man waiting to be separated from his money" is
'public'



*D*   The plural of 'blind' is 'blind'. "In the country of the blind, the
one eyed man is king" The plural of John Pilger, Harold Pinter or John
Mortimer end in 'd' – "We, the undersigned…."  The plural of 'churchmen' is
'synod' and of 'director' is 'board'

* *

*E*   The plural of 'cow' is 'cattle'.Committee, league, electorate all end
in 'e'.



*F*   "In the land of the deaf, the one-eared man is king"

* *

*G*   Everyone ends in 'g' according to a lawyer, as in "the foregoing"….
Unless they end in 'd' – "the aforementioned"



*H*   The plural of 'clergyman' is 'church' and of 'magistrate' 'bench'



*I*   Almost every plural in classical music ends in 'I', such as 'concerti'
'tutti' 'soli' 'celli'. The plural of 'critic' is 'castrati'. The plural of
'listener' is 'hoi polloi'

* *

*J*   This letter is used as a plural ending for foreigners in vast
quantity. In India a'raj', in Arabia a 'haj' etc



*K*   As you might expect, no plurals of cow end in 's' e.g. cattle, kine,
herd and, in 'k' bloodstock. Jesus often formed his plural in 'k' "The meek
shall inherit the earth" see also 'sick'

*
*

*L*     British Rail are a shining example of a plural in 'l'. It used to be
British Railways, but they saw the error of their ways and dropped the 's'
ending  cf British Telecom



*M*   Seraphim and Cherubim provide more Biblical backing here.



*N*   Perhaps the oldest and nicest plural in English, as in men, women,
oxen, brethren and Opposition.



*O*   There is only one plural in 'o' On the other hand it is all-inclusive
'ditto'



*P*   The plural of 'pop singer' is 'group'



*Q*   All right! I can't find a plural ending in 'q' – but then I can't find
a singular either.



*R*   The plural of 'socialist' is 'Labour'

* *

*T*   A very popular political plural ending 't'. The plural of 'commissar'
is 'commissariat', of 'secretary' 'secretariat' etc Also 'government'
'Cabinet' 'management'

* *

*U*   Every Welsh plural seems to end in 'u', certainly none in 's'. Good
for them. Also the plural of 'gnu' is not 'gnus', as you might be led to
believe but 'gnu'. This is to avoid jokes like "No gnus are good gnus"



*V*   The plural of  cross-reference is 'qqv'

* *

*W*   'Few' is the small plural of 'one'



*X** *  A popular plural for many a county-dweller, as in Middlesex, Sussex,
Wessex, Essex. So we say " Essex are champions again" not "Essex is champion
again"



*Y*   Ditto for the country-dweller. The plural of German is 'Germany' and
so on. The plural of 'song' , oddly, is 'medley' if pop and 'lieder' if
classical.

* *

*Z** *  The plural of ounce is 'oz'



It only remains to stress that 's' is a singular ending in 'trousers'
'scissors' 'pants' 'jeans'. A 'spectacle' is all you can see, but
'spectacles' are one small thing on your nose.

Having an 's' on the end is such a sign of the singular that it debars many
a word from even having a plural – 'quietus' 'nous' 'chaos' 'hiatus'.



As a final clincher, look at any English verb. "He works" "They work" Which
is plural? Which has the's' ending?



Brilliant!

Have fun

Heather
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