essay plural name

• 1.1.1 Pronunciation
• 1.1.2.1 Derived terms
• 1.1.2.2 Related terms
• 1.1.2.3 Translations
• 1.2.1 Pronunciation
• 1.2.2.1 Translations
• 1.3 Anagrams
• 2.1 Etymology
• 2.2 Pronunciation
• 2.3.1 Hypernyms
• 2.3.2 Derived terms
• 2.3.3 Descendants
• 3.1 Etymology
• 3.2.1 Derived terms
• 3.3 References
• 4.1 Etymology
• 4.2.1 Derived terms
• 4.3 References

English [ edit ]

Etymology 1 [ edit ].

Since late 16th century, borrowed from Middle French essay , essai ( “ essay ” ) , meaning coined by Montaigne in the same time, from the same words in earlier meanings 'experiment; assay; attempt', from Old French essay , essai , assay , assai , from Latin exagium ( “ weight; weighing, testing on the balance ” ) , from exigere + -ium .

Pronunciation [ edit ]

• ( Received Pronunciation , General American ) IPA ( key ) : /ˈɛs.eɪ/ (1), IPA ( key ) : /ɛˈseɪ/ (2-4)
• Rhymes: -ɛseɪ
• Homophone : ese

Noun [ edit ]

essay ( plural essays )

• 2013 January, Katie L. Burke, “Ecological Dependency”, in American Scientist ‎ [1] , volume 101 , number 1, archived from the original on 9 February 2017 , page 64 : In his first book since the 2008 essay collection Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature , David Quammen looks at the natural world from yet another angle: the search for the next human pandemic, what epidemiologists call “the next big one.”
• ( obsolete ) A test , experiment ; an assay .
• 1861 , E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley , page 16 : My first essay at getting employment was fruitless; but after no small number of mortifying rebuffs from various parties to whom I applied for assistance, I was at last rewarded by a comparative success.
• 1988 , James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom , Oxford, published 2003 , page 455 : This was Lee's first essay in the kind of offensive-defensive strategy that was to become his hallmark.
• ( philately , finance ) A proposed design for a postage stamp or a banknote .

Derived terms [ edit ]

• argumentative essay
• automated essay scoring
• eight-legged essay
• essay question
• photo-essay
• photo essay

Related terms [ edit ]

Translations [ edit ], etymology 2 [ edit ].

From Middle French essayer , essaier , from Old French essaiier , essayer , essaier , assaiier , assayer , assaier , from essay , essai , assay , assai ( “ attempt; assay; experiment ” ) as above.

• ( UK , US ) IPA ( key ) : /ɛˈseɪ/

Verb [ edit ]

essay ( third-person singular simple present essays , present participle essaying , simple past and past participle essayed )

• 1900 , Charles W. Chesnutt , chapter II, in The House Behind the Cedars : He retraced his steps to the front gate, which he essayed to open.
• 1950 April, R. A. H. Weight, “They Passed by My Window”, in Railway Magazine , page 260 : The train took the slow to branch spur at the north end at a not much slower speed, then essayed the short sharply curved climb with a terrific roar, smoke rising straight from the chimney to a height of some 60 ft., the long train twisting and curling behind.
• ( intransitive ) To move forth, as into battle.

Anagrams [ edit ]

• Sayes , Seays , Sesay , eyass

Dutch [ edit ]

Etymology [ edit ].

Borrowed from English essay ( “ essay ” ) , from Middle French essai ( “ essay; attempt, assay ” ) , from Old French essai , from Latin exagium (whence the neuter gender).

• IPA ( key ) : /ɛˈseː/ , /ˈɛ.seː/
• Hyphenation: es‧say
• Rhymes: -eː

essay   n ( plural essays , diminutive essaytje   n )

Hypernyms [ edit ]

Descendants [ edit ], norwegian bokmål [ edit ].

Borrowed from English essay , from Middle French essai .

essay   n ( definite singular essayet , indefinite plural essay or essayer , definite plural essaya or essayene )

• an essay , a written composition of moderate length exploring a particular subject
• essaysamling

References [ edit ]

• “essay” in The Bokmål Dictionary .

Norwegian Nynorsk [ edit ]

essay   n ( definite singular essayet , indefinite plural essay , definite plural essaya )

• “essay” in The Nynorsk Dictionary .

• English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
• English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂eǵ-
• English terms borrowed from Middle French
• English terms derived from Middle French
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• English 2-syllable words
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• Rhymes:English/ɛseɪ
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• Rhymes:Dutch/eː
• Dutch lemmas
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Definition of 'essay'

essay in British English

Essay in american english, examples of 'essay' in a sentence essay, cobuild collocations essay, trends of essay.

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Definition of essay noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

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Meaning of essay in English

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• I want to finish off this essay before I go to bed .
• His essay was full of spelling errors .
• Have you given that essay in yet ?
• Have you handed in your history essay yet ?
• I'd like to discuss the first point in your essay.
• boilerplate
• composition
• dissertation
• essay question
• peer review
• go after someone
• go all out idiom
• go down swinging/fighting idiom
• go for it idiom
• go for someone
• shoot the works idiom
• smarten (someone/something) up
• smarten up your act idiom
• square the circle idiom
• step on the gas idiom

essay | Intermediate English

Examples of essay, collocations with essay.

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Pronunciation [ change ]

• ( UK ) ( US ) IPA ( key ) : /ˈɛˌseɪ/

Noun [ change ]

• Writing that looks at an issue or subject . Each student had to write an essay on his favorite author.

Related words and phrases [ change ]

• photo essay

Verb [ change ]

• ( transitive ) To try .
• ( intransitive ) To move forth, as into battle .

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• Grammar Guide

I have a love/hate relationship with the English language. I love writing and communicating ideas to fellow readers. I (sometimes) hate all the weird rules.

Take plurals, for instance. English has many strange plural words that defy rules or make their own. In this article, we'll cover several tricky plurals (such as "moose" and "moose") and do our best to explain how they work. I hope it drives your love/hate relationship more toward the former!

Regular Plurals

You probably don't need our help with these. For most words, simply add an "s" to the end of the singular form to make a plural. For instance:

Singular: paper / Plural: paper s

Singular: cat / Plural: cat s

Singular: tree / Plural: tree s

Easy enough. Things get slightly complicated when the word already ends with an "s," or with a "ch," "sh," "x," or "z." In this case, it's often correct to add "es" instead:

Singular: grass / Plural: grass es

Singular: bench / Plural: bench es

Singular: radish / Plural: radish es

What about words like "memory"? To pluralize a word ending in a consonant and the letter "y," replace the "y" with "ies":

Singular: memory / Plural: memor ies

Singular: baby / Plural: bab ies

Singular: glory / Plural: glor ies

Now let's advance to the truly tricky stuff.

Irregular Plurals

As the name implies, irregular plurals don't follow the rules of their regular counterparts. The best way to learn these is to memorize them. Here are a few examples:

Calf and Calves

One might think calfs is the right word, but it's actually cal ves . There are a few others with a similar construction, including leaf and lea ves , knife and kni ves , and life and li ves .

A grammar guru, style editor, and writing mentor in one package.

Hoof and Hoofs (or Hooves)

Some irregular plurals are actually acceptable in multiple forms, as in the case of the word hoof . The logical plural hoof s actually works here. Yet using hoo ves is also valid. As the writer, it's your choice which you use, so long as you're consistent.

Just don't get tripped up with words that sound similar. For example, hooves is an acceptable plural of hoof . However, prooves is not the plural of proof . The correct plural is proof s . It's just one of those things you have to remember (though ProWritingAid's homonym report can help).

Person and People

This is certainly one of the stranger ones on this list. The preferred plural of person is not persons . It's people .

However, you've probably heard the word persons used before, such as in the phrase "Missing Persons Case." That's because persons is a formal version of the plural and therefore used almost exclusively in legal settings. So unless you're a law enforcement official, you should opt for people .

What about peoples ? In the words of Jane Mairs , Director of English Language Learning Publishing, "the only time you will want to use the word 'peoples' is when you are referring to groups of people from multiple ethnic, cultural, racial, or national backgrounds." For example:

"The American people." (We use people because we're referring only to Americans.)

"The American, Chinese, Mexican, and English peoples." (We use peoples because we're referring to many folks from many countries.)

Latin and Greek Plurals

There are a few tricky holdovers from these languages that have remained in English. A few examples:

Stimulus and Stimuli

There's no such word as stimuluses (even though that would make logical sense). According to our Ancient Greek friends, the proper plural is stimuli .

Genus and Genera

Again, you'd probably guess that the plural form of genus would be genuses . However, it's actually genera . Fortunately, if you're not a scientist, this probably won't be a concern too often.

Alumnus and Alumni

This one came up when I revisited my alma mater the other day. When asked for the reason for my visit, I said, "I'm an alumni." I feared I'd botched it and, sure enough, I had.

What I should've said was, "I'm an alumnus ." That's the singular form for male graduates. For female graduates, the generally accepted form is alumna . The plural form for both is alumni . So if my wife had been there as well, she would've said, "I'm an alumna," or, "We're alumni."

As if that wasn't tricky enough, there's also another plural form for a group of graduates who are all women. It's alumnae . So if my wife was with a female friend who graduated from the same school, she would've said, "We're alumnae."

So to reiterate: alumni can refer to a group of all-male graduates or a group of both men and women. Alumnae can refer only to a group of all-female graduates. If there's even one dude in there, you'd use alumni .

Many animals use the same word for both their singular and plural form. Thanks, animals! These are called invariants. For example, "I saw a moose " is correct, as is, "I saw several moose ." Mooses , meese , and moocices are not real words. Here are some others that fit this category:

Miscellaneous Weird Plurals

Ox and oxen.

Logic rarely factors into English. Therefore, the plural of ox is not oxes . It's oxen ! You probably knew that one if you're a fan of the Oregon Trail computer games.

Fox and Foxes

Since fox rhymes with ox , you might think the plural of fox would be foxen . It's not! The plural of fox is foxes . I made this error several times and felt silly for doing so.

Data and Datas(?)

There's a constant debate over the plural form of data . Is it datas ? Is datas even a word?

First of all, data is already a plural word; its singular companion is datum —or was. Unless you're in a technical field, that singular has been largely abandoned. Instead, most grammarians accept data as both a singular and plural form.

So what about the word datas ? It's mostly a matter of opinion. Though some use datas as a plural, others oppose the word. It seems most authorities agree that the preferred form for both singular and plural is data , and that it should be never used with the indefinite article ("a"). Easy to remember, since sentences like "I found a data I think you should see" just sound weird.

If you're still confused, I found this article immensely helpful when researching the topic myself. Check it out!

What are some tricky plurals we missed? Let us know in the comments below!

Common Questions about Plurals

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Eseys or Essays – Which is Correct?

• by Sarah Thompson
• March 3, 2024

Let’s have a conversation about the common mistake people make when writing the word “Essays.” Many individuals seem to get confused between “Eseys” and “Essays” and find themselves wondering which spelling is correct. Today, we will debunk this confusion and establish the correct spelling once and for all.

To address this issue, it is pertinent to emphasize that “Essays” is the correct spelling of the word. The incorrect term “Eseys” is a common misspelling resulting from a typographical error or a lack of familiarity with the correct spelling.

Now, let’s learn the reasons why “Essays” is the right spelling. Firstly, “Essays” is the plural form of the singular noun “Essay.” When we want to refer to more than one essay, we simply add an “s” to the end of the word. This is the conventional English rule for forming plurals of nouns, and it applies to “Essay” as well. For example, “I have written multiple essays on various topics.” Here, the correct plural form of “Essay” is used to convey the idea that the speaker has written more than one essay.

Moreover, we can also look at past forms of verbs to further solidify the correct spelling. For instance, the verb form of “Essay” is “Essayed.” “Essayed” is the past tense form, and by examining the conjugation of the verb, we can recognize that “Essays” is indeed the accurate plural form. You might say, “He essayed his thoughts on the subject,” to convey that someone expressed their ideas in the form of an essay.

To illustrate the incorrect spelling, “Eseys,” it is crucial to emphasize that this word does not exist in Standard English. It is a mistake that has often emerged due to a lack of knowledge or inattentiveness during writing. Therefore, it is essential to be attentive and avoid this misspelling in formal writing, as it may weaken your language skills and leave a negative impression on the reader.

In conclusion, we have effectively established that the correct spelling of the word referring to multiple essays is “Essays.” “Eseys” is an erroneous form that should be avoided. Remember, using proper grammar and spelling not only enhances your communication skills, but it also showcases your proficiency in the English language. So, the next time you find yourself unsure about whether to write “Eseys” or “Essays,” confidently choose the latter for an accurate and grammatically correct sentence!

So, keep practicing your writing skills, pay attention to proper grammar, and remember the correct spelling of “Essays.” With dedication and practice, you will become an exceptional writer and expert in the English language.

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Singular and Plural Forms in Scientific Writing

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Although plurals can sometimes be relatively simple, there are situations that cause confusion, including mass nouns. Learn more about how to avoid mistakes in scientific writing.

Updated on June 19, 2012

In most cases, forming the plural in English is relatively simple (just add an 's'). However, authors frequently make a few mistakes when forming plurals, especially with mass nouns.

Count nouns are discrete, individual entities -- items that you can count. Mass nouns , sometimes called uncountable or non-count nouns, refer to an undifferentiated mass or collection of material. For example, you would not say, “I'm all out of a water.” It is correct to say “I need a little water” or “I need a few bottles of water.” In this example, water is a mass noun, and bottle is a count noun. Likewise, when describing an experiment, you would quantify a mass noun by adding a specific measurement (e.g., “2 ml of water”); in fact, whether you choose bottles or milliliters, the mass noun requires some unit of measurement to be quantified. Note that the unit is plural and the mass noun ('water') remains unchanged.

Data and research are two nouns that are frequently used in the sciences and are much more tricky than they appear.

It is often taught that data (like media or spectra) is a plural word (the singular is 'datum'). In most contexts, the word data refers to specific numerical results and should therefore be treated as a plural count noun, with a corresponding plural verb form.

• The patient data are sorted in Table 1.
• Data were collected retrospectively from patient medical records.

However, this rule is not strict; it depends on the scientific context. Data can sometimes be used in the singular as a mass noun. For example, in Ars Technica, Chris Foresman examines how securely “user data is stored” by Apple's iCloud service. Likewise, the following PLOS ONE article uses the singular form of data in its title: “ Clickstream Data Yields High-Resolution Maps of Science. ” In computer science, data is often used in the singular form as an mass noun; that is, computer scientists use the word data to describe a mass of information to be accessed, stored, or processed ( information is another great example of a mass noun).

Unlike data , research should always be used as a mass noun, and its verb must be singular. Some writers attempt to force research to take a plural form (researches); however, this usage is incredibly rare, and it will almost certainly trouble a reviewer. Because research is a mass noun, it can refer to a wide body of literature (e.g., “current research in the field”) or the work involved in a specific project (e.g., “our research focused on the following objectives”). If you need to quantify the research in question, try using study/studies (e.g., “In total, 28 studies were included in this review”). Consider the following examples, also from PLOS ONE :

• A Comparison of rpoB and 16S rRNA as Markers in Pyrosequencing Studies of Bacterial Diversity
• Aggregating, Tagging and Integrating Biodiversity Research (not researches)

We hope these tips and examples help avoid the grammatical confusion that often surrounds data and research . Are there other singular or plural forms that cause you trouble in your scientific writing? Write to [email protected] , and we will work with you to find the answer. Best of luck!

Brandon Jernigan, PhD

Strategic Communications Partner and Operations UX

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Plurals of Names and Other Proper Nouns

Form the plural of a given or a family name by adding s . If the name ends in a sibilant sound (like s , x , z ), add es instead.

• There are two Johns , three Nancys , and four Agneses in my class.
• Are the Smiths here yet?
• The Joneses live next door to the Murrays .

Avoid using an apostrophe to form a plural.

• Poor: The Johnson’s and the Garcia’s are old family friends. Better: The Johnsons and the Garcias are old family friends.

Don’t add es or ies to given or family names ending in vowels or those ending in y ; simply add s .

• Incorrect: We have invited the Castilloes and Murphies to dinner. Correct: We have invited the Castillos and Murphys to dinner.

To form the possessive of a plural name, add an apostrophe after—not before—the s that forms the plural.

• Incorrect: Is that the Brown’s car parked in your driveway? Correct: Is that the Browns’ car parked in your driveway?

The general rule

Add s or es without an apostrophe to form the plural of a name or other proper noun .

• Both Jacks are guitarists, and both Jills are drummers.
• We have three Ryans , two Janes , and three Jennys in the family.
• The Williamses and Perezes are neighbors.
• Do the Danbys still live here?
• The Patels and the Smiths are on holiday together in Portugal.
• The Rousseaus and Mendozas are old family friends.

People’s names are proper nouns and do not have a dictionary-defined plural form. There are, however, accepted style guidelines on how to form plurals of names. In this article, we discuss how to pluralize given and last names in English, along with some exceptions.

Use of apostrophe

In general, don’t use an apostrophe to form the plural of a name.

• Incorrect: The Garcia’s have moved to Seattle. Correct: The Garcias have moved to Seattle.
• Incorrect: The Murphy’s and the Murray’s have always lived next door to each other. Correct: The Murphys and the Murrays have always lived next door to each other.
• Incorrect: Nobody cares anymore about keeping up with the Jones’s . Correct: Nobody cares anymore about keeping up with the Joneses .
• Incorrect: We have invited the Smith’s and the Ali’s over for dinner. Correct: We have invited the Smiths and the Alis over for dinner.
• Incorrect: There were two Lucy’s , three Anita’s , and four Mitch’s on board the ship. Correct: There were two Lucys , three Anitas , and four Mitches on board the ship.

With names ending in vowels, an apostrophe can sometimes help avoid confusion or improve readability.

• We have two Denise’s and two Denises in our hiking group. Use an apostrophe to distinguish between the plurals of the names “Denise” and “Denis.”
• We have two Mary’s and two Maryses in the family already. The apostrophe helps avoid confusion between the names “Mary” and “Marys.”

Such sentences are often better reworded.

Use an apostrophe to form the plural of a name only if not using one would result in confusion.

Names ending in s and other sibilants

Add es without an apostrophe to form the plural of a name ending in s , x , z , and other sibilants like ch , sh , and j .

• The Harrises live next door to the Diazes .
• The Hendrixes’ cat is in our window.
• The Walshes and the Williamses run a soup kitchen downtown.
• We have two Alexes , two Nikolajes , two Mitches , and three Inezes in the family.
• Neither of the Charleses I know is a prince.

Add es , not ses , to form the plural of a name ending in s .

• Incorrect: The Harrisses live in California. Correct: The Harrises live in California.
• Incorrect: Both Thomasses are writers. Correct: Both Thomases are writers.

Don’t use an apostrophe to form the plural of a name ending in s , x , z , and other sibilant sounds.

• Incorrect: The Jones’s are selling their house. Correct: The Joneses are selling their house.
• Incorrect: The Lopez’s have adopted a dog from the local shelter. Correct: The Lopezes have adopted a dog from the local shelter.

Names ending in vowels

Add s to form the plural of a name ending in a vowel ( a , e , i , o , u ). Avoid using an apostrophe before the s .

• We have two Ritas , three Janes , and two Lulus in class this year.
• Have the Bianchis been informed?
• Did you ask the Russos about it?

Don’t add es to form the plural; add just s , even for names that end in i or o .

• Incorrect: You know the Rossies better than I. Correct: You know the Rossis better than I.
• Incorrect: Both Pabloes are guitarists. Correct: Both Pablos are guitarists.

Very rarely, plurals of names ending in vowels like a or i can benefit from the use of an apostrophe , which can aid with pronunciation and also improve clarity. But use an apostrophe to form the plural of a name only when not using one could result in confusion.

• Both Luca’s are artists, and both Lucases are writers. The apostrophe helps distinguish the plural of “Luca” from the name “Lucas.”

Names ending in y

To form the plural of a name ending in y , simply add s after the y , without an apostrophe.

• They have four Dannys and three Marys in the family. not Dannies or Maries
• My aunts were obsessed with the Kennedys . not the Kennedies
• The Dalys come from Howth, while the Murphys are from Drogheda.

To form the plural of a name ending in y , don’t change the y to ies ; simply add s .

• Incorrect: The Murphies have opened a new store downtown. Correct: The Murphys have opened a new store downtown.
• Incorrect: Both Harries are princes. Correct: Both Harrys are princes.

Names ending in other consonants

Simply add s without an apostrophe to pluralize given or last names ending in consonants other than s or other sibilants.

• The Jacks and the Jills are busy fetching water.
• The Singhs have bought a new car.
• He and the Johnsons work together at the store.
• The Smiths and the Millers are neighbors.
• They live next door to the Nguyens .

Plurals of other proper nouns

Plurals of other proper nouns (such as names of brands, businesses, countries, and regions) are formed the same way as plurals of people’s names: by adding s or es .

• The Americas can be roughly divided into two major cultural regions. — “Americas,” Encyclopaedia Britannica (Accessed June 13, 2022)
• He found that even small departments and universities were buying top-of-the-range Audis , BMWs and Mercedes Benzes . — “Russians Tire of Corruption Spectacle,” BBC News (Mar. 6, 2012)
• The vast data centers that process information for the Facebooks and Amazons of the Web work at a brisk clip. — “A Wireless Way around Data Traffic Jams,” New York Times (Jan. 14, 2012)
• I think there are many interesting stories to be told of the two Germanys . — “Germans Fascinated by Life on Either Side of Berlin Wall,” Guardian (Feb. 14, 2015)
• It’s competing against the General Motorses and the General Electrics of the world. — “Red Ink,” PBS (transcript, Feb. 19, 2004)
• Conflicts of interest . . . are everyday occurrences for the Morgan Stanleys and Goldman Sachses of the world. — “Can There Be Investment Banks Without Conflicts?” Harvard Business Review (Feb. 5, 2010)
• They prefer to call themselves ‘financial services companies,’ just like the American Expresses and the Merrill Lynches . — “A Bank, by Any Other Name . . .,” New York Times (Dec. 27, 1981)

Possessives of plural names

To form the possessive of a plural name, place an apostrophe after the s that indicates the plural. For example, to refer to the Smith family, add s to the name ( the Smiths ), then place an apostrophe after the final s to form the possessive ( the Smiths’ car ). Here are some more examples.

• Is that the Garcias’ cat?
• For many, the Jacksons’ music defined the eighties.
• The Millers’ story is similar to the Joneses’ .

To form a possessive, never insert an apostrophe before the s that forms the plural; always add one after.

• Incorrect: the Wilson’s car Correct: the Wilsons’ car

Be careful with names that end in s and other sibilants. Form the possessive by placing an apostrophe after the final s .

• Incorrect: Is that the Roberts’ dog eating all your roses? The plural of the surname “Roberts” is “Robertses.” Form the plural, and then add an apostrophe. Correct: Is that the Robertses’ dog eating all your roses?
• Incorrect: The Martinez’s bookstore has shut down. Correct: The Martinezes’ bookstore has shut down.

Similarly, with names that end in vowels, remember to place an apostrophe after—not before—the s that forms the plural.

• Incorrect: I’ve lost the Moore’s invitation. Correct: I’ve lost the Moores’ invitation.
• Incorrect: The Mendoza’s garden party is tomorrow. Correct: The Mendozas’ garden party is tomorrow.

Examples from published content

Here are some examples from literature and other published content that show how names are pluralized. Note how s is generally used to form the plural, except when a name ends in a sibilant sound, when es is used instead. Also note the absence of apostrophes in the plural forms shown below.

• Peeping through the meshes of the hammock, he saw the Marches coming out, as if bound on some expedition. — Louisa May Alcott , Little Women (1868)
• That the Miss Lucases and the Miss Bennets should meet to talk over a ball was absolutely necessary. — Jane Austen , Pride and Prejudice (1813)
• I maintain that the Ewells started it all. — Harper Lee , To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)
• It would be no less unreasonable if ‘Tender is the Night’ were known primarily as a novel inspired by the Murphys . — “Books of the Times,” New York Times (June 25, 1971)
• You can try the same with all the Harrys , Harrises and Harrisons . Some might even want to add in all the Henrys as well. — “Baby Names: Peaky Blinders ‘May Have Inspired’ Choices,” BBC Culture (Aug. 29, 2019)
• To be fair, all Annas are doomed to fade in the lingering light of Garbo. — “Goings On about Town,” New Yorker (Accessed June 17, 2022)

Usage guide

In general, form the plural of a given or a last name by adding s ( two Alices in the family , the Smiths , the Garcias ). For names ending in y , simply add s , not ies ( the Duffys , the Murphys ). If the name ends in a sibilant like s , z , or x , add es instead ( the Williamses , the Perezes ). Don’t use an apostrophe to form the plural of a name, except when not using one would result in confusion. Finally, be careful with forming possessives of plural names : always place an apostrophe after the final s ( the Woods’ cat , the Joneses’ car ).

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Avoid using an apostrophe to form the plural of a name.

Form the plural of a name ending in a sibilant sound (like s , z , x ) by adding es instead of s , without an apostrophe.

Avoid using an apostrophe to form the plural of a name, even if it ends in a vowel.

To form the plural of a name ending in y , simply add s .

To form a plural possessive, form the plural of a name, and then place an apostrophe after the final s .

Synonyms of essay

• as in article
• as in attempt
• as in to attempt
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Thesaurus Definition of essay

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Synonyms & Similar Words

• dissertation
• composition
• prolegomenon
• undertaking
• trial and error
• experimentation

Thesaurus Definition of essay  (Entry 2 of 2)

• have a go at
• try one's hand (at)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How does the verb essay differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of essay are attempt , endeavor , strive , and try . While all these words mean "to make an effort to accomplish an end," essay implies difficulty but also suggests tentative trying or experimenting.

When might attempt be a better fit than essay ?

While the synonyms attempt and essay are close in meaning, attempt stresses the initiation or beginning of an effort.

Where would endeavor be a reasonable alternative to essay ?

Although the words endeavor and essay have much in common, endeavor heightens the implications of exertion and difficulty.

When is strive a more appropriate choice than essay ?

While in some cases nearly identical to essay , strive implies great exertion against great difficulty and specifically suggests persistent effort.

How do try and attempt relate to one another, in the sense of essay ?

Try is often close to attempt but may stress effort or experiment made in the hope of testing or proving something.

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“Essay.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/essay. Accessed 26 May. 2024.

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The correct way to use commas with names and titles, we use commas while combining multiple phrases in one sentence or writing about different items in a list. there are more usages of a comma, for example, how adding or removing comma before and after a name changes the meaning of the sentence — in this grammar.com article we'll learn how to correctly use commas when referring to someone in a sentence..

Look at the sentences below –

Which of these sentences has the commas placed correctly?

The answer is: neither of them!

Sentence 1 is grammatically incorrect.

In sentence 2 it is not clear whether the speaker is referring to John as his friend, or the person he is talking to as his friend. To understand this better, let us replace My friend with a name in sentence 2 – Tina, John is a good painter.

This would mean the speaker is addressing Tina (the friend) when speaking about John.

Now consider the sentences below. Both sentences are correct, but they do not convey the same thing.

“My friend, John, is a good painter. “

The use of commas in this sentence implies that I only have ONE friend – John- so his name is non-essential and could be left out. That is, I can say, "My friend is a good painter," and you would know that I mean John since he is the only friend I have.

“My friend John is a good painter. “

No commas imply I have more than one friend, so I need to specify John's name as essential information, ensuring that you understand that he is the friend I am referring to.

Look at the below sentence –

Here the comma is not essential because the clause beginning with who, does not identify John. Note that even without the clause ‘ who is a better painter than me’, the sentence is grammatically correct and conveys the message.

While introducing someone, we use commas.

In the second sentence, the comma before and after the name indicates we are talking about a specific scientist of AKL University. The comma after the name also tells us that the information after the name is essential to identify the person.

As we see, the main instances where commas are necessary when referring to someone in a phrase are:

     ü   Where the sentence is focusing on a particular person.

     ü   While introducing a person.

     ü   Where the clause before/after the name is not essential.

Few more examples –

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The Shenandoah County School Board’s Terrible History Lesson

O n May 10, 2024, 161 years to the day after General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s last breath fighting for the Confederate insurrection intended to continue enslavement of human beings in America, the Shenandoah County School Board voted 5-1 to restore his name on a high school in rural Virginia.

More than 50 concerned community members, students, and parents, including one of the first African Americans to integrate Stonewall Jackson High School in 1963, and hundreds of their supporters, continued to advocate a new reckoning of the county’s heritage of enslavement, segregation, and racial injustice. They affirmed the names a community committee selected in 2021 renaming the school as Mountain View High and another school named after Confederate generals Turner Ashby and Robert E. Lee as Honey Run Elementary.

But the school board heard none of it. Instead, the board sided with those idolizing the faith and loyalty of “heroes” like Jackson, condemning pandemic-related processes that did not take into account the voices of “we the people,” and complaining about “woke outsiders.” At the end of the board meeting, the board had delivered a disgraceful new chapter in our community’s history and a terrible lesson for the children they are sworn to educate.

Historians will debate the consequences of the board’s vote and perhaps whether the nation’s current political mood has rekindled racial tensions. But the school board members and their embittered supporters made it clear that the shadows of our segregated past still loom large.

For context, we should look at 2020, particularly the 8 minutes and 46 seconds of video that emblazoned the truth of racial injustice in America. After George Floyd’s murder by police in May of that year, national, state, and local leaders across the nation took up resolutions against racism, including Shenandoah County’s Board of Supervisors and the county School Board.

At around the same time in our mountain-cradled county, another incident reminded us of America’s lingering racial unrest: an encounter between a white mob and a black pastor in Edinburg, Va. On June 1, 2020, Pastor McCray approached a couple illegally dumping a refrigerator on his property, asking them to leave. They left, returned with three more people and began “attacking him physically, saying ‘they don’t give a darn’ about ‘my black life and the Black Lives Matter stuff,’ and telling him they would ‘kill’ him,” according to Associated Press reports. McCray put distance between himself and the mob by brandishing a gun that he was legally licensed to carry. When the police arrived, they arrested the Black man with the gun.

The Shenandoah County Sheriff later apologized for the incident, but it reinforces the need for formal resolutions against racism and leaders willing to make difficult decisions for a more inclusive community. The Shenandoah County School Board at the time agreed. They chose action, encouraged by then-Department of Education secretary Atif Qarni and then-Governor Ralph Northam, both of whom supported statewide removal of Confederate leaders’ names of public schools.

The 2020 school board, tying in as the next step to its June “Resolution condemning racism and affirming the division’s commitment to an inclusive school environment for all,” retired the names of Confederate leaders, and developed a process for community and student input into choosing more unifying public school names. On September 10, 2020, the then school board reaffirmed the foregoing motion, as well as moving forward with renaming the schools on southern campus. Community committees met during the next three months, with new names chosen at the January 14, 2021 meeting, after seven months of public input.

By 2024, recently elected school board members focused their arguments for restoration on the former board’s “secret” process during the COVID “plan-demic,” stating that community input was not taken into account at the time. Two years before, three current school board members ran on a campaign to restore the school’s Confederate leader names, an attempt that ended at the June 9, 2022 school board meeting with a 3-3 stalemate. The current board consists of three more new school board members, elected in the fall of 2023. Like many school boards around the nation, ours has committed to reversing civil rights often under the lost-cause banner of Confederate pride.

The memory of Stonewall Jackson High School as a whites-only public institution until its integration in 1963 is not a distant echo of history but an agonizing experience for many Black residents of Shenandoah County. These individuals are not just statistics in history books; they are our neighbors, friends, and family—and they were intentionally harmed in Shenandoah County as the Civil Rights movement gained momentum in the 1950s.

Read More: Confederate Monuments and Other Disputed Memorials Have Come Down in Cities Across America. What Should Take Their Place?

And now again in 2024. Dozens of citizens, alum, parents, and current students of the schools addressed the board, offering poignant testimony about lived experiences with institutionalized discrimination or in support of others who had. Approximately two-thirds of the speakers opposed back-naming the schools. For them, returning to Confederate leader names makes the damage linger.

Aliyah Ogle, a student who represented her school in three sports this year and would be attending the renamed high school next year, said it best: “I'm a black student and if the name is restored, I would have to represent a man that fought for my ancestors to be slaves. That makes me feel like I'm disrespecting my ancestors and going against what my family and I believe, which is that we should all be treated equally, and that slavery was a cruel and awful thing.”

Most of the board members could not have cared less about the county’s 252 year history. They were more concerned for judging the 2020 school board’s actions and recognizing the Confederate heritage of the county. Their brand of leadership consisted of telling the people they represent that we all have problems of one kind or another; it’s time to move on. “War is hell,” said Dennis Barlow, chairman of the Shenandoah County School Board. They were joined by two dozen pro-Confederacy speakers, claiming there is no evident racism in Shenandoah County, and never has been.

Board member Tom Streett used his decision to discuss pro-slavery General Jackson. “When you read about this man — who he was, what he stood for, his character, his loyalty, his leadership, how Godly a man he was — those standards that he had were much higher than any leadership of the school system in 2020,” Streett said.

Streett, however, neglected to mention that even Jackson’s descendants have weighed in on this legacy issue. For the past seven years, the general’s great-great grandsons, William Jackson Christian and Warren Edmund Christian, have said they support removing Confederate statues and other monuments—including in Shenandoah County this week—as “part of a larger project of actively mending the racial disparities that hundreds of years of white supremacy have wrought.” They added that they were “ashamed to benefit from white supremacy while our black family and friends suffer.”

Yet Shenandoah County’s school board and its grievance agenda does nothing to provide historical context, advance dialogue, or heal the feelings of well-meaning citizens. Using the same policy the 2021 school board used to name Mountain View and Honey Run, the 2024 board defiantly focused on undoing the decision and giving voice to the people they wanted to hear. The decision unfairly places our children as pawns on a rhetorical battlefield, keeping the board’s focus on vengeance and political control—not due process or heritage. But it’s more dangerous than just talk and hard feelings: The county remains on the radar of the Southern Poverty Law Center , which tracks white supremacists, including ongoing activity by the Patriot Front. To address this reality, we need better, sensible leadership from our school board. But for now, we must live with a stark reminder that elections have consequences.

Looking ahead, the many good people of our county will strive to ensure that our complete history, good and bad, remains available to students and the public. We must find a way to truly honor our whole heritage without insisting that students salute pro-slavery traitors or the treatment of their ancestors as subhuman property for almost 400 years.

If the U.S. Department of Defense can rename military bases once emblazoned with Confederate leaders’ names, then our public schools can do the same. After all, these are the spaces where the first lessons of civic duties are learned. History is complicated, no doubt, but there’s no better place to examine complex issues than in a good school. Other nations and communities reckon with difficult pasts. In Germany, for example, students still learn about Adolf Hitler, but they are not forced to wear sports jerseys and school-pride t-shirts that glorify symbols or names associated with murderous war crimes.

Our fight for what’s right in Shenandoah County is not over. We will continue to oppose historical injustices and help all constituencies in our community learn from the lessons of our past. As it has throughout our nation’s history, the work of decent people striving for a better, more united America will go on. We hope the school board here can find a way to join us along the way.

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John McWhorter

Lets chill out about apostrophes.

By John McWhorter

Opinion Writer

The North Yorkshire Council in England has been in the hot seat recently for its changes to street signs — not because of anything on them, but rather because of something left off. One street in the town of Harrogate was rendered as St. Marys Walk. No apostrophe. Outrage ensued.

The problem, punctilious observers argued, was that the nearby church is and always will be St. Mary’s — with an apostrophe, thank you very much — and leaving that bit of punctuation out of the name of the road obscures that vital and historical connection. Plus it’s just plain ignorant.

St. Marys Walk was just the beginning. It turns out the county plans to phase out apostrophes on all street signs, in part “to prevent complications while searching on databases,” an official told my Times colleague Jenny Gross .

The intensity of the debate may seem surprising. How many people would really miss the connection between St. Marys Walk and St. Mary’s Church? Language lives in, and on, context, and the context here is unmistakable. The truth is, apostrophes in general don’t make our language much clearer. We could really do without most of them.

Their deployment is governed by some rather fine rules — is it “my uncle’s book” or “my uncles’ book”? “It’s” or “its”? — that take a bit of effort to master. As such, their proper use conveys precision but also something else, something harder to put one’s finger on. I admit that seeing anyone over the age of 15 use its instead of it’s, or your instead of you’re, makes me wince a little. But it shouldn’t.

English seemed to get along just fine without apostrophes until the 1500s. Chaucer wouldn’t have known one if it bit him. The first edition of Shakespeare’s “Love’s Labour’s Lost” had it as “Loues Labors Loſt” (also, life went on with u standing for both u and v). Of course, no one was missing electricity, microchips or “Family Guy” episodes either, despite how useful they would have been.

Using an apostrophe to indicate something missing — like the “i” that gets lost when “it is” becomes “it’s” — serves only as a kind of formulaic salute to an earlier phase of the language. Consider “Bill’s in the room.” The apostrophe is there to let you know we’re talking about a man called Bill rather than a wad of paper money. But even without the apostrophe, context would instantly make the meaning clear. Is it a story about a fervent search for bank notes? “There’s my book,” I write — though there is no such thing as “theres” to distinguish the word from, except perhaps in a poem.

And then we have the counsel from some quarters to use an apostrophe alone to indicate possession in nouns that end in “s” — “the boss’ problem” — which gives readers no visual clue that you pronounce it “boss-es,” a problem in a language where the relationship between spelling and sound is already so grievously fraught.

Finally, the way the apostrophe forces a distinction between “it’s” and “its,” and “you’re” and “your,” is just as decorative. “Its a rainy day” does not leave us scratching our chins over why a rainy day might belong to an it. “Its your birthday — your 17!” may look barbaric to our eyes, but thanks to context it occasions no loss of clarity. No one would seriously think the reference was to someone possessing the number 17. Surely if we can deal with rabbits running fast and chairs stuck fast to the floor, or to seeding a watermelon and seeding a field, we could deal with its and your having two meanings.

I’m not suggesting we eliminate the apostrophe, but I would rather retain it for cases where there is a genuine possibility of ambiguity. A sign near dumpsters that says “Residents refuse to be placed in bins” could — theoretically — be interpreted as referring to people’s unwillingness to be placed in the trash. “Love’s Labour’s Lost” is another example, as it is genuinely unclear without an apostrophe whether we’re talking about “labors” in the plural or a contraction of “labor is.” I envision an alternate universe where the apostrophe would occur in English about as often as the dieresis on words like “naïve” does under some publications’ stylebook rules.

In my experience, any such suggestion that we loosen rules around punctuation elicits not just disagreement but near fury.

Some years ago I wrote something skeptical about the Oxford comma and it caused a whole kerfuffle, with endless accusations that I was the Professor Who Wants to Abolish the Comma Entirely. I got interview requests from as far as Europe.

But no. For one thing, language always changes, and I sense that the American public has opened up to this considerably over the past 20 years or so as technology has allowed public linguists to get the word out beyond the medium of the book. Still, even people who are comfortable with the idea that words evolve may not realize that punctuation does, too. Writing does not entail immutable rules in the way that mathematics does.

Not so long ago, it was common to capitalize nouns for rhetorical purpose: “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Donald Trump’s penchant for this — “Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order — respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue” — would have seemed almost elegant 200 years ago (even though blue isn’t a noun in this instance). Now, we restrict the capital letter to proper nouns and the start of sentences. The world has kept spinning — and would continue to do so if we stopped using capital letters entirely.

So why does the issue of apostrophes elicit rage? Using them (or not) is a simple procedural matter. Would people take umbrage if a chef suggested loosening the rules of a recipe? “How dare you suggest it isn’t necessary to braise the meat before adding other ingredients!”

I suggest that the visceral sentiment in this case is actually a kind of classism — one from which I cannot honestly exempt myself. When we no longer talk (at least overtly) of people marrying “beneath” themselves, when the difference in dress style between the rich and the poor is much less stark than it was in the past, when popular entertainment is no longer considered the province of “the lower orders,” blackboard grammar rules provide one of last permissible ways to look down on others.

This is why it is important to know that in an alternate universe — such as Chaucer’s — apostrophe-free English could be perfectly comprehensible and eminently legitimate. We should resist a sense that people who never quite master “it’s” and “you’re” are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. The rule they are having trouble with is one that was never really necessary anyway.

We aren’t going to stop using apostrophes. But it would help to understand that we could, with no harm to anyone.

John McWhorter ( @JohnHMcWhorter ) is an associate professor of linguistics at Columbia University. He is the author of “ Nine Nasty Words : English in the Gutter: Then, Now and Forever” and, most recently, “ Woke Racism : How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America.” @ JohnHMcWhorter

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