Plural forms

The plural form of a symbol is the same as the singular. Plurals of unit names are formed by adding an "s", except in henries hertz, lux, and siemens are not changed. 

Table4.3 Singular and plural forms of common scientific words (adapted from The ACS Style Guide Coghill and Garson, 2006, p 128). 

The following sentences may contain one or two errors with regard to singular and plural forms of words. Decide whether each sentence contains errors. If it does, correct the sentence. If the sentence is correct as written, indicate no change needed . 

In this formula, isiwasiwerelwill he/has heenihave been are forms of to be that (1) match the tense of the active verb and (2) agree with the singular or plural form of the object of the active sentence. The past participle is usually the same as the past tense verb form. 

Rule 5 Do not add a plural s to make an abbreviated unit plural (unless you are using the plural form of spelled-out units, e.g., milligrams). 

Several chemistry words have tricky plural forms, and the plural form must be accompanied by a plural verb. A few particularly troublesome singular/plural word combinations are described below. 

The word spectra is the plural form of spectrum. Use spectra with plural verb forms and spectrum with singular verb forms ... 

Proofreading Tip The singular/plural words introduced in this language tip are used frequently in chemistry writing. If you are unfamiliar with the two forms, memorize them. Remember that it is rare to use the singular word datum. Because you will most likely use the plural form, data, make sure you use it with a plural verb form. 

Less is used before nouns that do not have a plural form. Do not use less in front of plural nouns. Examples ... 

Nanacatl means flesh, and nanacatl is used for mushroom, a plural form of the word for flesh. This interpretation of the word was accepted from the beginning three early colonial sources take it for granted. No modem Nahuatl scholar disputes it. return... 

Bronchus—a larger air passage that connects the trachea (windpipe) to the lungs. The plural form of bronchus is bronchi. ... 

See footnote on next page for the semanitcal difference in the two different plural forms of the word "formula". 

Instead of he and his , change the construction to a plural form ( they and theirs ) or first person ( we , us , and ours ). Alternatively, delete his and replace it with a , the , or nothing at all. His or her , if not overused, is also acceptable. Using passive voice or second person ( you , your , and yours ) also works sometimes. 

Sometimes, the plural form is so familiar that it is used erroneously instead of the singular, usually with Latin and other non-English words. The following list shows the correct singulars and plurals. The preferred forms are given first. 

Do not capitalize the adjectival or plural form of a genus name unless it is at the beginning of a sentence or in a title or heading. 

Use trademarks as adjectives only, never as nouns or verbs. Because trademarks are adjectives, they do not have plural forms. 

In older usage, particularly for monoterpenes, nor denotes loss of all methyl groups attached to a ring system, e.g., norborane, norpinane. The plural form should be bisnor when two carbon atoms are lost from the same site and dinar where they are lost from different sites, bnt in practice the terms are nsed interchangeably. o-. Abbreviation of ortho-. 

You can also refer to collections of objects. A collection is a group of objects of the same kind. A collection has the plural form of the object s name (e.g.. Worksheets). Worksheets refers to all worksheets in a particular workbook. To reference a particular worksheet, you use the reference Worksheets(A/amerext) for example, Worksheets("Spectrum1"). 

The difficulty of a consistent application of the Li6ge rules is connected with the termination -e, which in German indicates the plural. Therefore, it is not possible to use the endings -an and -ane, -in and -ine, -ol and -ole as designations of different functions. Oxazole in German is simply the plural form of OxazoL Similar difficulties, however, are encountered in Scandinavian and other languages, where it has been found advantageous to introduce the system as far as possible. 

Symbols for units do not take a plural form, but plural forms are used for the unabbreviated names. 

Subject-verb agreement—based on whether the subject is singular or plural, use the correct verb tense. A quantity used is a singular subject, even when that quantity is in a plural form of units. 

There is some discussion about the correct plural form of schema in English. The Greek form is schematos, the Latin is schemata, and there is a growing tendency in English for the use of schemas. 

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