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Ask for help > I ´m at my wits´ end... but what about them?
I ´m at my wits´ end... but what about them?
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Shalottslady
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I ´m at my wits´ end... but what about them?
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Dear colleagues, I hope some of you could help me out here. I �m writing a short text and I want to use the idiom �at my wits´ end �, only not with the subject �I � but with �the police �. Now, I know �the police � is seen as a plural form, so I was wondering if the noun also takes the plural in agreement with the subject. In other words, which one is correct: 1) The police are at their wits� end. OR 2) The police are at their wits� ends. Many thanks for a clear justified answer.
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27 May 2017
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yanogator
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If you �re going to use the possessive plural wits �, you have to use ends., because certainly their collective wits don �t have just one end. Anyway, I would say "at their wits � ends". "...at their wits � end" would be wrong, and I don �t think that "...at their wit �s end" is the best choice. Bruce |
27 May 2017
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redcamarocruiser
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At their wits � ends does not sound right to me. The idiom is at wits � end. http://grammarist.com/spelling/at-wits-end/ gives examples of the usage with a plural subject. |
27 May 2017
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cunliffe
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The police are at their wits � end, definitely in British English; that is the idiom. My son has just walked in and said that �at their wits � ends � is an Americanism.  |
28 May 2017
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almaz
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At their wits� end is certainly more common on both sides of the Atlantic (see comparison in Google�s Ngram Viewer). And here�s the relevant entry from the OED � with Fanny Burney�s odd take on it:
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28 May 2017
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Jayho
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It is at wits� end down here at the bottom of the world
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29 May 2017
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