Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with plural

What is the plural of "print out"?

ChasFile — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:56:57 -0800

What's the plural of "print out," as in, "hey John, if you're going near the printer could you get me that print out?" What would we say to John if we wanted him to get us more than one?

HOW DO EXPRESS TEH IDEA OF MORE TAHN ONE BEATIN' ???

ignignokt — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:26:57 -0800

How do I pluralize a contraction that already ends with an apostrophe? I was just IMing with a friend and needed to pluralize the word beatin', which ends with an apostrophe. If I were to just add an s, I'd get:

beatin's

That looks like the possessive form of "beatin" and is totally wrong. Alternatively, I could put the apostrophe at the end, but that makes even less sense.

"There is" or "There are"

syzygy — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 02:53:41 -0800

English Grammar: "There is" vs. "There are". There is a banana. There are two oranges. There (is / are) a banana and an orange? How about:
There (is / are) a banana and two oranges?
There (is / are) two oranges and a banana?

I've searched on google for a definitive answer to this question. Most of the ESL lessons I've come across avoid this kind of construction, altogether. I've also stumbled on some discussions of the topic which seem pretty contradictory.

For the example sentences I provided, I think the following answers are correct: "is", "is" and "are".

I understand that the subjects of all of the sentences are plural, but I think that an ellipsis allows for the "is", as in: There is a banana and (there is) an orange.

Can someone point me to a definitive answer?

Radioactive Mooses?

blue_beetle — Thu, 10 May 2007 09:18:20 -0800

pluralsfilter: Why don't we use words like "radiations"? It seems like a lot of words that have logical plurals don't ever get used in english. Radiations means essentially the same thing as emanations or emissions, but we don't use it the same way. Why is this? Where can I find more information about why we drop the pluralization on some many words?

What do you call a group of ninjas?

qbxk — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:43:14 -0800

What do you call a group of ninjas? You know, like gaggle of geese, murder of crows, school of fish, all that. Does a group of ninjas have some sort of descriptor? We're talking many people in halloween costumes, how to address them together. The { blank }

Is there a proper plural for "ethnicity"?

pardonyou? — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:34:20 -0800

Is "ethnicities" a proper plural of "ethnicity"? I'm editing a sentence containing a list, and I'm concerned about parallelism. The sentence is along these lines: "Our organization reflects numerous cultures, backgrounds, ethnicity, and experiences." To me, "ethnicities" reads better, but I'm not sure it's a proper word. If not, is "ethnicity" a proper plural, or would "ethnic backgrounds" work better?

Question number 13063

rkent — Thu, 16 Dec 2004 15:38:10 -0800

From this thread:

... you're probably aware that Clear Channel own ...

What is the DEAL with verb/subject disagreement when it comes to corporate entities?? Clear Channel is an IT! Likewise band names. I can't remember how many articles I've read with phrases like "Metallica are..." or "Led Zeppelin are..." Why is this OK in the music business? I know this is mostly rant-y, but I'm genuinely curious if anyone has, like, the Rolling Stone Style Guide or something.