Re: USAGE: THEORY/USAGE: irregular English plurals (was: RE: [CONLANG] Optimum number of symbols
| From: | Michael Poxon <m.poxon@...> |
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| Date: | Sunday, May 26, 2002, 14:05 |
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Surely the singular of brethren is brother? Okay, brother used in a
specifically religious sense, but brother just the same. And as far as I
know, at least in British English, there is no such word as 'oxes'. Oxen is
fine.
Mike
> My sense is that in contemporary English, _brethren_, like _police_,
> lacks a singular, and hence does not belong in the above list. But
> _brethren_ and __police_ remain irregulars in not taking the -s
> plural.
>
> > > As for the rest of the list, _oxen_ is obsolescent, being replaced
> > > by _oxes_,
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