We learn our language by picking up the obvious rules and then gradually learning the exceptions to those rules. For example, most little kids, at some point when they’re learning English, try out the word “goed” as the past tense of “go.” They’re corrected a few times and begin to use “went,” and before long they’re laughing at the younger kids who say “goed.”
We learn early on that nouns can be made plural by adding an “s,” and soon run into exceptions such as “children.” Before long we stop saying “childs.”
I actually know someone who said, “My nose are running. Do you have a Kleenex?” And I know lots of people who say something like, “My driver’s license expired and I had to go get new ones.”
Because the British Isles were conquered so many times and because so many Britons traveled to far-flung lands, English has accumulated a lot of foreign words, and not all languages add “s” to make something plural.
The Romans were in Britain
We tend to use this word incorrectly. “I am an alumni of Harvard” is incorrect. Even “She and her sister are alumni of Harvard” is incorrect.
The masculine singular is “alumnus,” and its plural is “alumni.” If there is more than one alumnus, and some of them are female, “alumni” is still correct, but one female graduate is an “alumna,” and two or more of them are “alumnae” (pronounced ah-LOOM-nee). Confusing, isn’t it?
“Medium” and “datum” are two other Latin words that are often misused. The plurals are “media” and “data.” The sentences “The media have been giving him a hard time” and “There aren’t enough data to make a prediction” are correct.
“Criterion” is a Greek word that seems to give lots of people fits. It’s singular; the plural is “criteria.”
Even Hebrew gets into the act. You know what a “cherub” is, but did you know that the plural is “cherubim?”
There are lots more of these s-less plurals, but I’ve got to go. My nose are running.
