I didn't think I had to add an extra z when making it plural, but I did. Why is that? Just some weird anomaly like so many things in English spelling? Or is there a history behind it?
122469
The plural of "quiz" is spelled with double "z" while the plural of "box" (and sometimes "bus") is spelled with a single last consonant. Why is it so? Is this the general rule to double the last consonant to keep the syllable closed?
28027
Why do British speakers omit the article in constructions like "go to hospital" or "go on holiday"? Pretty much all American speakers would rephrase those as "go to the hospital" and "go on a holiday", I think. Is there any good reason, or forgotten sense behind those words that might explain why the articles are ommitted?  Are there other common constructions other than those two that the British use that drop the article?  EDIT: I just realized per Kosmonaut's comment that Americans do much the same thing with a few nouns, so this isn't all that special.   Do grammaticists designate nouns that can have their article dropped with anything, i.e. do they have anything in common?
64102
When it comes to losing weight, a quick fix to would be nice, but we   know there’s no such [a] thing. ()   It sounds like there isn’t ‘a’ in the news. So I wonder if it be right when there is no ‘a’ after ‘such.’ Would it be okay?
49210
I don't think this has yet been covered in .  There was , however, it was not specifically talking about the case where the proper noun ends in a plural noun.  Feel free to vote to close if I am wrong.  What is the correct way to make a proper noun ending in a plural noun ending in an "s" possessive?  This frequently happens with corporations, e.g., "Dunkin' Donuts."  Should one work off of the fact that the entity is singular—suggesting Dunkin' Donuts's—or should one work off of the fact that "Donuts" is plural and ending in an "s"—suggesting Dunkin' Donuts'?  I expect that the answer might depend on dialect because some regions refer to corporations in the singular form ("Dunkin' Donuts is a company") while other regions refer to corporations in the plural form ("Dunkin' Donuts are a company").  I am specifically interested in American English, but would be interested in hearing answers for other dialects too.
598
When I was in high school back in the 1970s, I was taught that to make a plural of an acronym, a letter, or a number, one should add an apostrophe and "s". Like I would have written this sentence, "... back in the 1970's ..." I would write "one CD, two CD's". Etc. I followed this rule faithfully for years until a co-worker told me it was wrong. Now I can't find any source that agrees with what I was taught.  Is this a rule that has changed over time? Was the convention in the 70s that one should use an apostrophe but this has changed and now we do not? Or were my high school English teachers just confused?
6510
When pluralizing family (last) names that also happen to be common English words, does the pluralization follow the same rules as the common word?  For example, "the Smith family" can be pluralized as "the Smiths", but what if the family name is "Wolf" or "Fish"?  Would the correct pluralization be "the Wolfs" or "the Wolves"?
57294
Do I need a comma before "but"?      I like your car but it seems to me too expensive for you.   Or     I like your car, but it seems to me too expensive for you.   My native languages are Ukrainian and Russian. In these languages this comma is required.
68948
I would like to ask how people who are familiar with English interpret these sentences regarding the nouns that can be both count and noncount nouns.  (1) I have to make more cake/cakes to offer a wide variety of bakery products for my own business.  (2) France is famously known for having more cheese/cheeses than there are days in the year.  My foreign teachers went for plural noun in (1), but they chose the bare form for (2). I have them chose only one form for each item. For me (I'm Thai), I just want some explanations because both items represent "a variety of sth", so why these two are treated differently.
84859
If a possessive noun, which is plural, is preceded by "each", then should it use the singular or plural possessive form?  For example, which of the following is correct?    spend time in each other's presence spend time in each others' presence
48126
I'm in a strange situation where I need to take two short phrases and make them into plural nouns.  Here's the context:     His was the destabilizing blow in a long bombardment of Why Latin?’s and waste of time’s.   The "Why Latin's" and "waste of time's" are obviously the problem.  Do I italicize them?  Use quotes?  And how do I make them plural?  Do I use apostrophes?
17151
Are apostrophes needed in this phrase?     The whys and the hows   I searched for duplicate questions, but the closest I found was in regard to
23311
When dealing with abbreviations, should you parenthesize the abbreviation or its expansion? I have seen it both ways. Can anyone make a good case for preferring one style over the other?
99689
After reading , I would refrain from asking this question, but the husband of a colleague of mine (English professor, native speaker of British English) stated against it, so I am looking for further enlightenment.  He advocates some should be solely used to refer to plural forms. Thus,     some non-existent towns   is perfectly correct, but     some non-existent town   should be replaced by      a non-existent town   Is that true?
39891
I guess “optional plural” is the correct term.  I’m referring to things like    It can be found at the following location(s). Please pick up your ticket(s).   But how do I do that to a word that ends in&nbsp;‑y? Take category for example: “category(s)” doesn’t seem correct, because categorys is a misspelling.  But everything else I have tried looks ridiculous.  What’s the correct approach here?
33500
When expanding an abbreviation in parentheses, sometimes the thing that was abbreviate was used in a possessive context.  Consider the following example:     If the Giant Ostrich Bomb's (GOB) fuse is too short, you may be too close when it goes off and you may get kicked in the face.   Is the above correct, or should it be rewritten this way instead:     If the Giant Ostrich Bomb (GOB)'s fuse is too short, you may be too close when it goes off and you may get kicked in the face.   If this is a matter of style, do any of the popular style manuals have a recommendation?
60874
When should a noun that’s used at­tribu­tively to de­scribe an­other  noun be plu­ral, and when should it be sin­gu­lar?  And when should it be pos­ses­sive, like bak­er’s dozen and when should it be plu­ral pos­ses­sive, like farm­ers’ mar­ket?  In other words, why do we say teach­ers union rather than teacher  union?  And why do we say wed­ding plan­ner rather than wed­dings plan­ner?  Which of these vari­ants is or are cor­rect?        stu­dent union   stu­dents union   stu­den­t’s union   stu­dents’ union      What about com­mu­nity val­ues ver­sus com­mu­ni­ty’s val­ues?  Please note I am look­ing for a gen­eral rule or at least some tips.  These are only ex­am­ples.  Up­date: It seems even na­tive speak­ers fol­low their per­sonal  style to write such com­pound words. I won­der why in the IELTS lis­ten­ing sec­tion, the lan­guage learner has to write a spe­ci­fic form and there is no rule for this.
53849
I was writing a text when I came to say 'a union', then it struck me that I need to change the 'a' to 'an'. But for some reason, 'an union' didn't sound right.   Why doesn't it work? Is it because its a mass noun, instead of a regular noun?