5 words you may be pronouncing wrong
No.1 Octopus
The correct plural of octopus is octopuses. Many people are under the impression that it is octopi but this is incorrect because octo is a Greek root and pi is a Latin plural. If we are to get really technical you could pronounce the plural as octopodes, the Ancient Greek pronunciation but I think most of us will stick to octopusesNo.2 Beef
Beeves is the plural form of beef. The word
beef was used to describe a meat carcass that had been sufficiently fattened up
and was ready for slaughter. In this instance when there were more than one of
these cows they were called beeves. This is why beeves is the plural of beef.
No.3 Goose
Goose changes to
geese because of an old English rule that when the second syllable is also a vowel
the vowel changes instead of adding an “s”. Consequentially the spelling and
sound of a word change too.
No.4 Opus
Opus is the poor, neglected singular form
of opera. The correct pluralisation of opus is opera because opus comes from
Latin, however I feel it is worthy of this list because so many people forget
that opera is a pluralisation and not a singular word.
No.5 Appendix
Appendix is often pluralised as appendices
or appendixes the former being the Latin ending and the latter being the
English. This one is different to its predecessors because both options are
acceptable, with the English being preferable.
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