 |
|
Yes, We Have No Potato’s
The thing that finally tipped me over the edge into madness was one day seeing, for the umpteenth time, a sign in a shop which said potato’s. This error never fails to wake the grumpy old man waving a stick inside my otherwise youthful and friendly exterior. Let’s put him to rest once and for all, shall we?
Writing a primer on how to form plurals is far beyond the scope of this entry. Let’s stick instead to that misbegotten potato’s and be done for the day.
The plural of potato is potatoes. One potato. Two potatoes.
Words ending in “o” almost invariably add “es” when pluralised.
Exceptions to this rule are not that common, but include the following: mementos, grottos and mangos (no “e” added).
You’ll also find when the final “o” is preceded by a vowel (cuckoo, embryo) that no extra “e” is added.
Finally, when the word being pluralised is an abbreviation (kilo, hippo), there’s no extra “e”.
So no more apostrophes, okay? There’s no need for them. There is almost never a need for them, actually, other than when you write cross the i’s and dot the t’s or do’s and don’ts. But that’s it.
You now know what to do the next time you see the hated potato’s. Go inform the shopkeeper of their mistake and wait patiently while they correct their signage. I’m sure they’ll take your correction with good grace and won’t attempt any physical retribution upon you or abuse you verbally. I’m fairly sure.
You’re very welcome to reprint any of the Good Business articles on your website and/or newsletters free of charge, provided:
Daniel O'Connor is a website copywriter, advertising copywriter and marketing copywriter using the name Daniboy. He can be contacted in the UK on +44-1892-518269 or at mail@daniboy.com. Visit http://www.daniboy.com for further details of his services, including bespoke article writing, and more free reprint articles.
|
|
|
|
|
© Daniboy 2012 SEO, Ad & Marketing Copywriter
Bookmark Daniboy
|
|
|
|
