|
Plural Form Of Words Ending In -us
In English, the plural form of words ending in ''-us'', especially those derived from Latin, often replaces ''-us'' with ''-i''. There are many exceptions, some because the word does not derive from Latin, and others due to custom (''e.g.'', ''campus'', plural ''campuses''). Conversely, some non-Latin words ending in ''-us'' and Latin words that did not have their Latin plurals with ''-i'' form their English plurals with ''-i''. Some words' plurals end in ''-i'' even though they are not Latin, or that is not the Latin plural, ''e.g.'', ''octopi'' is sometimes used as a plural for octopus (the standard English plural is octopuses). Prescriptivists consider these forms incorrect, but descriptivists may simply describe them as a natural evolution of language. Some English words of Latin origin do not commonly take the Latin plural, but rather the regular English plurals in -(e)s: ''campus'', ''bonus'', and ''anus''; while others regularly use the Latin forms: ''radius'' (''radii'') ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain. Existing on a dialect continuum with Scots, and then closest related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages, English is genealogically West Germanic. However, its vocabulary is also distinctively influenced by dialects of France (about 29% of Modern English words) and Latin (also about 29%), plus some grammar and a small amount of core vocabulary influenced by Old Norse (a North Germanic language). Speakers of English are called Anglophones. The earliest forms of English, collectively known as Old English, evolved from a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century and further mutated by Norse-speaking Viking settlers starting in the 8th and 9th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
