Student - Teacher Conference

Student: You know, I thought that I'd figured out this whole singlular/plural thing back in grade school. But looking at these errors in my essay, guess I was wrong.

Teacher: Don't feel bad. When it comes to irregular plurals, English can quite difficult.

Student: But it seems so obvious.  Add an -s for the plural form. What am I missing here?

Teacher: Oh, about a dozen exceptions to that basic rule. In English, not every noun adds an -s for its plural form. These exceptions are what seem to be giving you a problem.

Student: Can you show me some of them?

Teacher: Sure. 

When to Add -es

Teacher: Let's look at this sentence in your essay. “The wind blew softly through the trees.” Here you correctly created the plural by adding an –s. 

Student: OK. So what about those exceptions?

Teacher: Look at this sentence: “I watched my mother make three lunchs.” This is an exception--. If adding an -s creates a new syllable, add -es.

Student:  A new syllable?

Teacher: Right. What's the plural of this word--Box?

Student: Box-ez.

Teacher: See—“box” is one syllable and “boxes” is two syllables. So, to spell boxes, do you add –s or –es?

Student: Ah, of course. B-o-x-e-s.

Teacher: Exactly. And the plural of “lunch” is?

Student: Lunch-ez. L-u-n-c-h-e-s.

Teacher: Perfect. You now know the –es exception.

Student: That's it?  I totally understand that now!

Words That End in -o

Teacher: Terrific. Let's look at another sentence where you had a problem with plurals.  “The echos rang out in the canyon.” In this case, “echo” brings up another exception: Many words ending with –o require an –es for their plural form. For example, hero, potato and tomato--all are words that end with –o, and all need –es for their plural form. So, how should “echoes” be spelled?

Student: You know, I thought that was a typo, but now I see it's one of these exceptions for plurals. Echoes should be e-c-h-o-e-s.

Teacher: Excellent. Unfortunately, there’s some not-so-good news. Just as many words ending in -o add only the -s: No –e required. The ones you’re probably familiar with are piano, memo, and photo.

Student: Wait a minute! What am I supposed to do--memorize lists of words? That’s doesn’t sound like fun.

The Role of SpellCheck & Dictionaries

Teacher: It’s not efficient either. Actually your best option is your word processor's spellchecker and dictionary. It's important that you run spellcheck on your documents before submitting them, whether in school or the workplace.

Student: Ummm, I’ll confess: I didn't use spellcheck for this essay. But seeing how complex these rules for can be, I'll definitely be using spellcheck in the future.

Teacher: Good. Then you’ve learned something truly important.

Student: Oh, yeah. For every spelling rule in English there’s probably an exception.

Teacher: And also the importance of using spellcheck and your dictionary for all of your documents.

The Ultimate Rule

Student: Why so many exceptions.

Teacher: Well, the reasons have to do with the history of the English language. But the bottom line is that all writers must recognize the need to use spellcheckers and dictionaries. That’s why this last rule trumps all the others:

Student: What is it?

Teacher: The ultimate rule is: When in doubt, look it up. Never hesitate to do that. Few things cause your writing to lose credibility faster than spelling errors. And with today's spellcheckers and online dictionaries, you can easily get the help you need.

Student: Thanks. Looks like both are going to be my new best friends forever.