is essay a plural form

Definition of 'essay'

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Eseys or Essays – Which is Correct?

• by Sarah Thompson
• March 3, 2024

Let’s have a conversation about the common mistake people make when writing the word “Essays.” Many individuals seem to get confused between “Eseys” and “Essays” and find themselves wondering which spelling is correct. Today, we will debunk this confusion and establish the correct spelling once and for all.

To address this issue, it is pertinent to emphasize that “Essays” is the correct spelling of the word. The incorrect term “Eseys” is a common misspelling resulting from a typographical error or a lack of familiarity with the correct spelling.

Now, let’s learn the reasons why “Essays” is the right spelling. Firstly, “Essays” is the plural form of the singular noun “Essay.” When we want to refer to more than one essay, we simply add an “s” to the end of the word. This is the conventional English rule for forming plurals of nouns, and it applies to “Essay” as well. For example, “I have written multiple essays on various topics.” Here, the correct plural form of “Essay” is used to convey the idea that the speaker has written more than one essay.

Moreover, we can also look at past forms of verbs to further solidify the correct spelling. For instance, the verb form of “Essay” is “Essayed.” “Essayed” is the past tense form, and by examining the conjugation of the verb, we can recognize that “Essays” is indeed the accurate plural form. You might say, “He essayed his thoughts on the subject,” to convey that someone expressed their ideas in the form of an essay.

To illustrate the incorrect spelling, “Eseys,” it is crucial to emphasize that this word does not exist in Standard English. It is a mistake that has often emerged due to a lack of knowledge or inattentiveness during writing. Therefore, it is essential to be attentive and avoid this misspelling in formal writing, as it may weaken your language skills and leave a negative impression on the reader.

In conclusion, we have effectively established that the correct spelling of the word referring to multiple essays is “Essays.” “Eseys” is an erroneous form that should be avoided. Remember, using proper grammar and spelling not only enhances your communication skills, but it also showcases your proficiency in the English language. So, the next time you find yourself unsure about whether to write “Eseys” or “Essays,” confidently choose the latter for an accurate and grammatically correct sentence!

So, keep practicing your writing skills, pay attention to proper grammar, and remember the correct spelling of “Essays.” With dedication and practice, you will become an exceptional writer and expert in the English language.

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Meaning of essay in English

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• I want to finish off this essay before I go to bed .
• His essay was full of spelling errors .
• Have you given that essay in yet ?
• Have you handed in your history essay yet ?
• I'd like to discuss the first point in your essay.
• boilerplate
• composition
• dissertation
• essay question
• peer review
• go after someone
• go all out idiom
• go down swinging/fighting idiom
• go for it idiom
• go for someone
• shoot the works idiom
• smarten (someone/something) up
• smarten up your act idiom
• square the circle idiom
• step on the gas idiom

essay | Intermediate English

Examples of essay, collocations with essay.

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Translations of essay

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balancing act

a difficult situation in which someone has to try to give equal amounts of importance, time, attention, etc. to two or more different things at the same time

Alike and analogous (Talking about similarities, Part 1)

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a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.

anything resembling such a composition: a picture essay.

an effort to perform or accomplish something; attempt.

Philately . a design for a proposed stamp differing in any way from the design of the stamp as issued.

Obsolete . a tentative effort; trial; assay.

to try; attempt.

to put to the test; make trial of.

Origin of essay

Other words from essay.

• es·say·er, noun
• pre·es·say, verb (used without object)
• un·es·sayed, adjective
• well-es·sayed, adjective

Words that may be confused with essay

• assay , essay

Words Nearby essay

• essay question

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use essay in a sentence

As several of my colleagues commented, the result is good enough that it could pass for an essay written by a first-year undergraduate, and even get a pretty decent grade.

GPT-3 also raises concerns about the future of essay writing in the education system.

This little essay helps focus on self-knowledge in what you’re best at, and how you should prioritize your time.

As Steven Feldstein argues in the opening essay , technonationalism plays a part in the strengthening of other autocracies too.

He’s written a collection of essays on civil engineering life titled Bridginess, and to this day he and Lauren go on “bridge dates,” where they enjoy a meal and admire the view of a nearby span.

I think a certain kind of compelling essay has a piece of that.

The current attack on the Jews,” he wrote in a 1937 essay , “targets not just this people of 15 million but mankind as such.

The impulse to interpret seems to me what makes personal essay writing compelling.

To be honest, I think a lot of good essay writing comes out of that.

Someone recently sent me an old Joan Didion essay on self-respect that appeared in Vogue.

There is more of the uplifted forefinger and the reiterated point than I should have allowed myself in an essay .

Consequently he was able to turn in a clear essay upon the subject, which, upon examination, the king found to be free from error.

It is no part of the present essay to attempt to detail the particulars of a code of social legislation.

But angels and ministers of grace defend us from ministers of religion who essay art criticism!

It is fit that the imagination, which is free to go through all things, should essay such excursions.

British Dictionary definitions for essay

a short literary composition dealing with a subject analytically or speculatively

an attempt or endeavour; effort

a test or trial

to attempt or endeavour; try

to test or try out

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for essay

A short piece of writing on one subject, usually presenting the author's own views. Michel de Montaigne , Francis Bacon (see also Bacon ), and Ralph Waldo Emerson are celebrated for their essays.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

To 'Essay' or 'Assay'?

You know what an essay is. It's that piece you had to write in school, hopefully not (but probably) the night before it was due, about a subject such as What Freedom Means to You—at least five pages, double-spaced, and don't even try to get away with anything larger than a 12-point font. (Kudos for thinking to tweak the margins, though.)

Remember the difference and get an 'A' for effort.

You might also know that essay can be a verb, with its most common meaning being "to try, attempt, or undertake":

A very close approach to the evil of Idi Amin is essayed in Giles Foden's 1998 novel The Last King of Scotland , whose narrator is the Scottish personal physician to the dictator. — Norman Rush, The New York Review of Books , 7 Oct. 2004 The principal accidents she remembers, before last summer's, involved chipping a couple of teeth while, as a fifth grader, she was essaying a back flip off a diving board,... — E. J. Kahn, Jr., The New Yorker , 17 Aug. 1987

The verb assay , meanwhile, is used to mean "to test or evaluate" and can be applied to anything from laboratory samples to contest entries:

He bounced from job to job, working on a shrimp boat and later for Pan American Laboratories assaying chemicals coming in from Mexico. — Steve Clark, The Brownville Herald , 21 Apr. 2017 "Each burger will be assayed by visitors and a panel of judges, including local chefs Jen Knox, Gina Sansonia, Judith Able, Bret Hauser, Camilo Cuartas and Peter Farrand." — Phillip Valys, SouthFlorida.com , 19 May 2017

While this distinction might seem clear-cut on the surface, there exists a great deal of historical overlap between essay and assay . The two words derive from the same root—the Middle French essai , which ultimately derives from a Late Latin noun, exagium , meaning "act of weighing."

At one time, assay and essay were synonyms, sharing the meaning "try" or "attempt." In the 17th century, an essay was an effort to test or prove something:

Edmond: I hope, for my brother's justification, he wrote this but as an essay or taste of my virtue. — William Shakespeare, King Lear , 1606

For the modern noun use of essay to mean "a written exploration of a topic," we can almost certainly thank Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), a French writer noted for working in the form. Borrowing a word that emphasized their identity as literary "attempts," Montaigne devised Essais as a title for the vignette-typed pieces that he began publishing in 1580 and spanned over a thousand pages, covering subjects as varied and wide-ranging as solitude, cannibalism, and drunkenness.

Those last ones probably won't be in the final exam.

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• Writing Tips

Grammar Tips: Plural Nouns

• 7-minute read
• 10th March 2023

If someone asked you what a noun is , you’d probably say it’s a person, place, or thing. Pretty simple, right? But what about plural nouns? For example, what is the plural form for cat ? If you said cats , you’re right! What about the plural for foot ? If you said foots , you’re incorrect. The correct form is feet. Simply adding an s at the end works for some nouns – but not all.

Plural nouns can be confusing for many English learners. Most students struggle with regular versus irregular plurals as well as apostrophe usage with some plurals. Nevertheless, understanding plural nouns is important for effective communication. After all, you’ll encounter them in many contexts!

If you find plural nouns confusing, read on! This blog will provide essential grammar tips for using plural nouns correctly in written and spoken English. We’ll discuss pluralization rules as well as irregular and tricky plural noun forms. By the time you finish reading, you’ll feel confident using plural nouns effectively in any context. And understanding plural nouns can go a long way to improving your English grammar .

What Are Plural Nouns?

Plural nouns refer to more than one person, place, or thing. You can easily recognize most of them by their s or es ending:

There’s not much to pluralizing such nouns. However, things get tricky with irregular plurals, as they have their own unique forms. For example:

English language learners often struggle to distinguish regular plurals from irregular ones . Fortunately, to form irregular plurals, you just need to know which letters to change.

How to Make Nouns Plural

As we stated above, you can make most singular nouns plural by adding s or es to the end of the word, depending on the word’s ending. Likewise, collective nouns (nouns that represent groups) can be made plural by adding s or es . For example:

Regular Plural Nouns

Nouns such as bottle, toy, bike , and chair are the easiest to pluralize, as you simply add s to the end. However, some nouns require the es ending:

Irregular Plurals

The rules for forming these plurals are different from the rules for forming regular plurals, and interestingly enough, there are multiple ways to form irregular plurals. Examples of nouns that have irregular plurals include mouse , man , goose , wolf , and wife . Their pluralization looks like this:

Pluralizing these is usually a matter of knowing the rules regarding certain noun endings. If a noun ends in f or fe , you change the ending to ve before adding an s to form the plural:

The only exceptions to this rule are roof, belief, chef, chief , and café , which take the s ending. For nouns such as goose, foot, and tooth , you change the double o into a double e to make the plural. So the plural forms are geese, feet, and teeth , respectively.

Booth and book are exceptions: their plurals use the s ending. Therefore, changing the double o to a double e is incorrect. And for nouns such as man and woman , you only need to change the a to e to make the plural.

How to Pluralize the Word Mouse

The word mouse has a unique plural form. You simply change mouse to mice :

However, you wouldn’t apply this rule to other words ending in ouse , such as house . You would simply add the s ending for those.

More Rules for Plural Nouns

The final letter of a noun often dictates the correct spelling of the pluralized form. But just as we saw with irregular plurals, you must be aware of special rules.

Singular Nouns Ending in Y

If a singular noun ends in y and the letter before the y is a consonant, you change the ending to ies to make the plural:

If a singular noun ends in y and the letter before the y is a vowel, just add an s to make the plural:

Singular Nouns Ending in O

If a singular noun ends in o , add es to make the plural:

However, you would not apply this rule to nouns such as piano , halo , and photo , which take the s ending for the plural.

Which Nouns Take the es Ending?

We know you’ve probably been asking this question from the beginning. The simple answer is that the es ending applies to nouns that end in s , ss , sh , ch , x , and z . For example:

Plural Noun Exceptions

While we’ve already mentioned a few exceptions, more exist. If a singular noun ends in us , the plural ending is i . For example:

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If a singular noun ends in is , the plural ending is es :

If a singular noun ends in on , the plural ending is a :

Believe it or not, some nouns don’t change at all when you pluralize them. Such nouns include sheep, fish, deer, series , aircraft , and species . They can be singular or plural:

Plural Nouns Versus Possessive Nouns

Possessive nouns demonstrate ownership, generally with the ’ s ending. Let’s say your cousin Bill owns a boat (lucky Bill!). You would indicate it like this:

Most students confuse plural nouns with possessive nouns because of the s endings. Understanding how to use apostrophes with plurals and possessives can be tricky. Plural nouns don’t have apostrophes unless they’re also possessive. Let’s consider the following examples:

Common Mistakes When Using Plural Nouns

1. Adding s or es endings to irregular nouns (e.g., goose , man , child , foot )

2. Adding an apostrophe to a plural noun when it’s not possessive

3. Adding s endings with nouns that actually need the es ending

4. Adding pluralizing endings to nouns that don’t change at all (e.g., deer , fish , series )

5. Adding the wrong ending to nouns that end in us , is , and on

Tips for Avoiding Errors in Writing and Speaking

1. Remember that plural nouns don’t use apostrophes unless they’re also possessive.

2. You cannot pluralize all nouns simply by using s or es endings.

3. Remember which letters need to be changed to form irregular plurals (which all have unique forms).

4. Know which nouns use the s and es endings.

5. Know which nouns are singular and plural in sentences.

Tips for Identifying Singular and Plural Nouns in Sentences

Looking at how much of something a noun is referring to can tell you whether that noun is singular or plural. It’s singular if it refers to one person or thing. It’s plural if it refers to more than one person or thing.

When reading a sentence, look for any nouns with s or es endings. If so, they’re likely plural. Furthermore, by understanding how much of something the noun refers to, you can recognize the tricky irregular plural nouns we’ve covered.

Incorrect Plural Nouns Lead to Different Meanings

It’s important to use the correct forms of plural and possessive nouns, as incorrect plurals can change the meaning of a sentence. Take these examples:

We encourage you to practice using plural nouns correctly. One way to do this is by trying a worksheet on singular and plural nouns . The more practice you have, the more comfortable you’ll be. For our visual learners, we recommend this video on how to form plural nouns . Finally, we encourage you to proofread your written work for correct plural noun usage.

If you’re currently working on an essay or a paper, you might be interested in letting our proofreading experts review your writing. They can check for grammar and punctuation errors and make sure the spelling is perfect. They’ll also ensure the correct use of plural nouns! Consider submitting a 500-word document for free today.

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• 1.1 Pronunciation
• 1.4 Anagrams
• 2.1 Pronunciation

English [ edit ]

Pronunciation [ edit ].

• IPA ( key ) : /ˈɛseɪz/
• IPA ( key ) : /ɛˈseɪz/
• Rhymes: -eɪz
• Hyphenation: es‧says

Noun [ edit ]

• plural of essay

Verb [ edit ]

• third-person singular simple present indicative of essay

Anagrams [ edit ]

• Sesays , Sessay

Dutch [ edit ]

• English 2-syllable words
• English terms with IPA pronunciation
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• Rhymes:English/eɪz
• Rhymes:English/eɪz/2 syllables
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• What Is a Plural Noun? | Examples, Rules & Exceptions

What Is a Plural Noun? | Examples, Rules & Exceptions

Published on April 14, 2023 by Jack Caulfield .

A plural noun  is a noun that refers to more than one of something (as opposed to a singular noun, which refers to just one). Like singular nouns, they may refer to people, animals, things, concepts, or places.

Plural nouns are normally formed by adding -s to the singular noun (e.g., the singular “cat” becomes the plural “cats”). With certain nouns, you need to add or change some of the other letters. The rules are explained in the table below.

There are also some irregular plurals that don’t end in  -s at all. The following section explains them.

Table of contents

Irregular plurals, plurals of compound nouns, common mistake: adding an apostrophe, plural nouns with singular functions, nouns that are always plural, uncountable nouns, worksheet: plural nouns, other interesting language articles, frequently asked questions about plural nouns.

Some plural nouns don’t end in -s at all. These are generally called irregular plurals . They are typically either leftovers from older ways of forming plurals in English or foreign words that were imported into English.

Only a small proportion of nouns have irregular plurals, but some of them are very commonly used words, so it’s important to be aware of them. There are a few main groups of irregular plurals, which are explained in the table below.

If you’re unsure about how to pluralize a word that isn’t mentioned in the table, consult a dictionary.

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Compound nouns are nouns that are made up of multiple words. They may be open compounds (written with spaces; e.g., “head of state”); hyphenated compounds (written with hyphens ; e.g., “brother-in-law”); or closed compounds (no spaces or hyphens; e.g., “household”).

To create the plural of a compound noun, you often pluralize only the final word (e.g., “high schools “), but there are also cases where you pluralize an earlier word (e.g., “ heads of state”) or occasionally multiple words (e.g., “ men-children “).

To determine how to pluralize a compound noun, consider which word is the “head” of the noun—the thing being represented, which the other words modify. For example, “high schools” refers to multiple schools, not multiple “highs.”

When it’s still not obvious, consult a dictionary to find the correct plural.

A common mistake when forming plural nouns is to add an apostrophe before the “s.” In English, apostrophes are used to form possessive nouns and contractions , not plurals. You also don’t need an apostrophe to pluralize a number, acronym , or proper noun .

• Maya loves pop music from the 1980’s .
• Maya loves pop music from the 1980s .
• SUV’s are bad for the environment and for road safety.
• SUVs are bad for the environment and for road safety.
• The Jones’s have gone on vacation.
• The Joneses have gone on vacation.

There’s one context in which it’s standard to use an apostrophe to form the plural. This is when you’re pluralizing a single letter. The apostrophe is generally added in such cases to avoid confusion with other words (e.g., “a’s” vs. “as”).

Some nouns are said to be plural in form but singular in construction . These words originate as plural forms but are now primarily used in a singular sense.

This is most common in the names of fields of study: for example, “physics,” “mathematics,” “ethics,” and “aesthetics.” Other examples include “news,” “measles,” and “billiards.”

“Singular in construction” means that these words have singular subject-verb agreement . For example, you’d write “the news is …” rather than “the news are …”

Similarly, some nouns are always plural and have no singular form—typically because they refer to something that consists of a pair of something. For example, “scissors” consist of two blades, “pants” of two legs, and “glasses” of two lenses.

Even a single pair of scissors, for example, is referred to in the plural (e.g., “the scissors are over there”). These nouns are sometimes referred to by the Latin term plurale tantum (“plural only”).

Because it’s wrong to use an indefinite article with a plural noun (e.g., “a scissors”) and no singular form exists (e.g., there’s no such thing as “a scissor”), the phrase “a pair of” is used before the noun when an indefinite article is needed. “Pairs of” is also used to specify quantities of these nouns (e.g., “three pairs of pants,” not “three pants”).

Your new spectacles suit you very nicely.

How many pairs of shorts do you own?

Uncountable nouns (also called mass nouns or noncount nouns ) are nouns that don’t have a plural form and can’t be preceded by an indefinite article (“a” or “an”). They often refer to abstract ideas or processes (e.g., “research”), physical substances (e.g., “water”), or areas of study (e.g., “geography”).

Uncountable nouns are singular, not plural, in terms of subject-verb agreement, and the words themselves cannot be pluralized. An alternative phrasing or word choice must be used instead:

• Several researches have been performed on this subject.
• A substantial amount of research has been performed on this subject.
• Several studies have been performed on this subject.
• Several pieces of research have been performed on this subject.

If you need to refer to a specific quantity of an uncountable noun, you use a unit of measurement to do so, since the noun itself doesn’t represent a specific quantity:

• There are 70 waters in the glass.
• There are 70 ml of water in the glass.

Test your understanding of how plural nouns are formed with the worksheet below. In each sentence, add the correct plural form of the noun in brackets. Some of the plurals are regular, some irregular.

• Practice questions
• Answers and explanations
• I love visiting [church] _______ on my [travel] _______.
• The atmosphere is made up of several [gas] _______.
• I bought two [loaf] _______ of bread and some [tomato] _______ at the market.
• Many [species] _______ of [fish] _______ live in [river] _______.
• A lot of [game of chance] __________________ involve rolling [die] _______.
• The singular noun “church” ends in “-ch,” so “-es” is added to form the plural noun. “Travels” is pluralized in the normal way, by adding “-s.”
• “Gas” ends in “-s,” so “-es” is added to pluralize it.
• As with some other nouns ending in “-f,” the plural form of “loaf” ends in “-ves.” “Tomato” follows the rule for most nouns ending in “-o” by adding “-es.”
• Both “species” and “fish” have the same form in the singular and the plural, so nothing is added to them. “River” is pluralized normally.
• The open compound noun “game of chance” is pluralized by adding “-s” to the head of the phrase, “game.” “Chance” is not pluralized. The word “die” has the irregular plural “dice.”

If you want to know more about nouns , pronouns , verbs , and other parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations and examples.

Nouns & pronouns

• Common nouns
• Proper nouns
• Collective nouns
• Personal pronouns
• Uncountable and countable nouns
• Verb tenses
• Phrasal verbs
• Sentence structure
• Active vs passive voice
• Subject-verb agreement
• Interjections
• Determiners
• Prepositions

The plural of “moose” is the same as the singular: “moose.” It’s one of a group of plural nouns in English that are identical to the corresponding singular nouns. So it’s wrong to write “mooses.”

For example, you might write “There are several moose in the forest.”

The correct plural of “octopus” is “octopuses.”

People often write “octopi” instead because they assume that the plural noun is formed in the same way as Latin loanwords such as “fungus/fungi.” But “octopus” actually comes from Greek, where its original plural is “octopodes.” In English, it instead has the regular plural form “octopuses.”

For example, you might write “There are four octopuses in the aquarium.”

Normally, the plural of “fish” is the same as the singular: “fish.” It’s one of a group of irregular plural nouns in English that are identical to the corresponding singular nouns (e.g., “moose,” “sheep”). For example, you might write “The fish scatter as the shark approaches.”

If you’re referring to several species of fish, though, the regular plural “fishes” is often used instead. For example, “The aquarium contains many different fishes , including trout and carp.”

The plural of “crisis” is “crises.” It’s a loanword from Latin and retains its original Latin plural noun form (similar to “analyses” and “bases”). It’s wrong to write “crisises.”

For example, you might write “Several crises destabilized the regime.”

Sources in this article

We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.

Caulfield, J. (2023, April 14). What Is a Plural Noun? | Examples, Rules & Exceptions. Scribbr. Retrieved April 15, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/nouns-and-pronouns/plural-noun/

Aarts, B. (2011). Oxford modern English grammar . Oxford University Press.

Butterfield, J. (Ed.). (2015). Fowler’s dictionary of modern English usage (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Garner, B. A. (2022). Garner’s modern English usage (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.

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Singular or Plural? Sometimes, It Depends

The distributive plural.

When each part of a plural subject possesses something individually, the thing possessed must generally be in the plural as well. For example:

The two women blew their noses .

Each woman possesses one nose, so, logically, two women possess two noses. Some usage experts call this type of plural “the distributive plural” (Quirk et al. 768).

The Distributive Singular

But in several cases, the thing possessed should be in the singular.

To Indicate Joint Possession

For example, use the singular when two people possess something jointly:

While traveling together, the two women got lost and consulted their map .

To Convey Universal, Abstract, and Figurative Ideas

Wilson Follett remarks that the thing possessed also “remains in the singular when what is plurally possessed is universal, abstract, or figurative” (211). So if, after blowing their noses, our two women celebrated with a bottle of wine, we might say, The two women toasted their health (universal). If the doorbell rang while they were drinking the wine, we might say, The two women were led by their curiosity to open the door (abstract). But if no one was there when they opened the door, we might say, The visitors wanted to get something off their chest but had a change of heart (figurative).

To Avoid Ambiguity

Quirk et al. observe that sometimes the singular is needed if the plural would be ambiguous (768):

We asked the children to name their favorite animal .

If they were asked to name their favorite animals , the children might not be sure if they should name more than one. To make clear that each child, rather than the group as a whole, should give an answer, we could revise as follows:

We asked each child to answer the question, What is your favorite animal?

Mind Your Nouns

As Words into Type warns, when the sentence has more than one noun, you must be careful to use the singular for the correct noun (357): You should have seen the expression on their faces when they heard the news (not the expression on their face ).

Works Cited

Follett, Wilson. Modern American Usage: A Guide . Revised by Erik Wensberg, Hill and Wang, 1998.

Quirk, Randolph, et al. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language . Longman, 1985.

Words into Type . 3rd ed., Prentice Hall, 1974.

10 Comments

Tamara herring 15 august 2019 at 09:08 pm.

What is the correct style for writing the plural of a word that is being used as a noun within a sentence? For example, “You are using too many ands in your writing.” From what I’ve found, the Chicago Manual of Style dictates that it be written exactly as included in my example—no underline, apostrophe, quotation marks, etc. Is it the same rule for MLA?

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Jennifer A. Rappaport 18 August 2019 AT 08:08 AM

Great question. See our related post on how to form the plural of so : https://style.mla.org/plural-so/.

Jennifer Diaz 14 December 2021 AT 09:12 AM

Should a state name be used as a plural noun? For example, which sentence would be correctly written: California sent all their trash to Nevada. OR California sent all its trash to Nevada.

C. Barney Latimer 25 January 2022 AT 05:01 PM

A state name is a singular noun, so the correct sentence is “California sent all its trash to Nevada.” Many nouns known as collective nouns—such as team, family, and class—can be treated as singular or plural, depending on how they are used, but state names are not collective nouns and therefore always take singular verbs.

Luke 17 January 2022 AT 05:01 AM

Hi Jennifer,

Could you please help me with this?

If I was writing the following, which is correct or are both acceptable?

Left and Right Engine Bays or Left and Right Engine Bay

Thank you for your help.

Regards, Luke

C. Barney Latimer 10 March 2022 AT 05:03 PM

Since you are naming two distinct bays, the left one and the right one, the correct formulation would be plural—“left and right engine bays.”

Guru 22 April 2022 AT 03:04 AM

Every time people blows or blow?

Singular or Plural?

Vera Rodrigues 15 June 2022 AT 07:06 AM

Can you tell me witch one is correct: Part of the goods are made of organic cotton, and the other part are made in regular cotton or Part of the goods is made of organic cotton, and the other part is made in regular cotton?

Samantha Spinner 03 November 2022 AT 07:11 PM

When writing an essay, can some paragraphs be in the plural form and some in the singular form?

Sally 29 January 2024 AT 01:01 PM

How should I handle a situation in which there may be more than one of something, but that's entirely up to the participants? Example: There may be more than one car used by a team participating in an event, though most teams will work with only one. There are a lot of instructions for those participating, and writing "car or cars" at every reference is clunky and uses up valuable space, while using "car(s)" every time makes for confusing grammar. However the person running the event wants to be sure teams know they can provide multiple cars if they choose to, and not all participants will be involved in or see every piece of communication about the event, so we can't really refer to it as car(s) just once.

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Pronunciation [ change ]

Noun [ change ].

• The plural form of essay ; more than one (kind of) essay.

Verb [ change ]

• The third-person singular form of essay .

• Regular verbs
• Third-person singular forms
• Toggle limited content width

Essay Plural, What is the Plural of Essay?

Meaning: a short piece of writing on a particular subject.

Table of Contents

Plural of Essay

• dissertation

Essay as a Singular Noun in Example Sentences:

• She submitted her essay before the deadline.
• The student received an A+ on his essay .
• The teacher assigned a persuasive essay for the assignment.
• He spent hours researching and writing the essay .
• The essay explored the theme of identity in literature.
• The scholarship required a well-written essay on a specific topic.
• The university professor provided feedback on the essay .
• The essay was published in a renowned academic journal.

Essay as a Plural Noun in Example Sentences:

• The students submitted their essays for grading.
• The conference received numerous essays from scholars around the world.
• The collection of essays covered a wide range of topics.
• The professor assigned weekly essays to encourage critical thinking.
• The finalists presented their essays in front of the audience.
• The anthology included essays from various renowned authors.
• The competition aimed to recognize outstanding essays on social issues.
• The workshop focused on refining students’ persuasive essays .

Singular Possessive of Essay:

The singular possessive form of “Essay” is “Essay’s”.

Examples of Singular Possessive Form of Essay:

• I need to read Essay’s conclusion.
• The topic of Essay’s first paragraph is intriguing.
• Have you seen Essay’s thesis statement?
• I appreciate Essay’s insightful analysis.
• The structure of Essay’s body paragraphs is clear.
• Essay’s introduction captures the reader’s attention.
• I admire Essay’s coherent argumentation.
• Essay’s conclusion summarizes the main points.
• Can you provide me with Essay’s bibliography?
• The evidence in Essay’s supporting paragraphs is compelling.

Plural Possessive of Essay:

The plural possessive form of “Essay” is “Essays'”.

Examples of Plural Possessive Form of Essay:

• I need to read the Essays’ conclusions.
• The topics of the Essays’ first paragraphs are diverse.
• Have you seen the Essays’ thesis statements?
• I appreciate the Essays’ insightful analyses.
• The structures of the Essays’ body paragraphs are well-organized.
• The Essays’ introductions engage the readers effectively.
• I admire the Essays’ coherent argumentations.
• The Essays’ conclusions summarize the main points eloquently.
• Can you provide me with the Essays’ bibliographies?
• The evidence in the Essays’ supporting paragraphs is substantial.

Explore Related Nouns:

• Complete List of Singular Plurals

Last updated on June 9th, 2023 at 09:23 pm

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Is essay plural

Essay is plural plural plural both plural and singular singular singular both plural and singular both plural and singular singular .

The singular plural plural singular plural singular plural plural singular of essay is essays .

How to say essay: How to pronounce essay

How to say essays: How to pronounce essays

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