Quick Answer Some English nouns look exactly the same for one and for many: one deer, two deer. You do not add anything. The words around them — one/two, is/are, this/these — tell the reader how many there are. See the Pattern First Nothing changes on the noun. Everything changes around it. One deer is…
Quick Answer Words from Latin ending in -um and Greek words ending in -on change the ending to -a: one curriculum, two curricula; one phenomenon, two phenomena. See the Pattern First Four sentences. Watch the ending change from -um or -on to -a. The school changed one curriculum. It changed both curricula. That is a…
Quick Answer Words from Latin ending in -us often change to -i: one cactus, two cacti. But English now accepts the simple -uses form for most of them too — and for a few words, the Latin form is plain wrong. See the Pattern First Look at how these behave. Notice that some have two…
Quick Answer Words that end in -is change the i to an e: one analysis, two analyses. These words come from Greek and appear a lot in school, university and news writing. See the Pattern First Read these sentences. Look at the endings in blue. One crisis is bad. Two crises are worse. The doctor…
Quick Answer Most English words ending in -f or -fe change to -ves in the plural. One knife becomes two knives. One leaf becomes many leaves. But four common words break this rule — you will learn them below. See the Pattern First Read these four sentences. Look at the words in blue. I have…
Reporter Amara expects a routine assignment about a city staircase. The people who use its hundred steps reveal a larger story about access, local history and whose voices count.
Amira has planned every hour of her first solo trip to Portugal. When her phone stops working, a paper map invites her to travel in a different way.
The last bus home helps Amira feel welcome in a new city. When she learns the service may close, she joins other passengers to save it.
Maya likes to draw in the park. An old man waits there with his chess board, but nobody plays with him. Maya wants to help.
Nadia arrives to report on a festival centred on a bell that has never rung. Old records challenge the town’s familiar account of its past, raising an uncomfortable question about truth.
