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Grammar and Linguistics > 1 bus - 2 buses ???? Help, please ;o))
1 bus - 2 buses ???? Help, please ;o))
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Pelletrine
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1 bus - 2 buses ???? Help, please ;o))
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Dear all,
I hope you �re all enjoying a nice and quiet Sunday ;o))
I do, except for this: I �m quite unable to explain why we don �t double the final �s � in �bus � : 1 bus - 2 busses, please help me: what grammar rule havn �t I learnt yet ?(I, know, there must be many many more, but regarding this plural) - It looks so odd to me with only one �s � : 2 buses (I would tend to pronounce it as rhyming with � uses �.... but we don �t, do we? we pronounce it as if there were 2 �s �  .... I know that, but I can �t explain it to my students, who are now learning about plural nouns.
Can you help me out here, please?
Have a nice evening  Pelletrine |
24 Nov 2013
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cunliffe
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Tell them this: it just does. It rhymes with �pusses � but we spell it �buses �. What about these as well: octopuses/viruses. Do we ever double the last �s � in these cases??? Can �t think of any. Wish I could have been of more help!
Edit: apparently most nouns ending in �us� derive from Latin so strictly speaking, the plural should be�i� as in octopus >octopi, campus > campi etc. However, it�s incredibly pretentious to do this (in my opinion).
�Bus� comes from the Latin �omnibus� which means �for everybody�, so really, the plural could be �omnibi�. Silly, and doesn�t really answer your question, but if you explain all this, hopefully your students will be ready to move on.... |
24 Nov 2013
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Pelletrine
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Dear Lynne,
Thanks a bunch!!! It really does help: I hate to answer "Because!" - having nothing else to say ;o) I think the �long-cut � through latin will help me explaining ... just a bit more than "Because it is so!" I �ll push on my investigations through the door you just opened: thanks 
amiti�s, Pelletrine |
24 Nov 2013
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frenchfrog
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Oxford Advanced Learner �s Dictionary:
bus noun ( pl. buses, US also busses) 
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24 Nov 2013
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almaz
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The regular rule is that words ending in -s, -ch, -sh, -x or -z add -es to make the plural. And that includes �bus � (as Cunliffe says, from �omnibus � which just means �for all � in Latin - but it �s already a sort of plural form), although �busses � is just a little-used variant. There �s no big mystery, really.
Incidentally, octopus is from the Greek - not Latin - so it wouldn �t take a Latin plural anyway - but it does conform to the -s ending rule above.
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24 Nov 2013
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cunliffe
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Almaz - octo means 8 in Latin and pus is short for pedes (feet). I just made the last part up.
Anyway, nice to see you on the forum, French Frog. I �ve been using stuff from your wonderful website - your interactive vocab sheets and interactive books, particularly. So, I will share the address here:
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24 Nov 2013
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almaz
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Cunliffe, FYI: okto + pous (Greek for eight + foot).
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24 Nov 2013
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Pelletrine
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Thank you dears for your inputs : I �ll go to bed having learnt something, thanks to you: have a lovely, lively week ;o))
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24 Nov 2013
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