plural of Aircraft
I just read the other topic about plural for "sheep", "cattle", "deer", "goose" etc.
It was stated that only for "animals" the "s" or "es" is not used.
So no deers or gooses.
However, since i'm working in aircraft industry, i'm curious on the following:
What is the plural of "Aircraft". Is it "Aircrafts"?
Is it "British Airways has many Aircrafts in his fleet" or "British Airways has many Aircraft in his fleet"
Use a fucking dictionary, paper or online. But I think you know the answer to your own question. Idiot.
And all these years I've been saying "aircrafts".
The dictionaries have it wrong!
I don't care; I won't be saying "10 aircraft" any time soon.
the plural of sheep is sheepsies
You can circumvent the problem by using the word 'aeroplane'.
Unlike "sheep", "deer" and "goose", the word "cattle" is a non-counting noun and can never be used in the singular. "Geese" does have a distinct plural form, "geese", although I think it might be optional to use "goose" as a collective plural in some contexts (like hunting, maybe?).
The plural of 'aircraft' is the same as the singular.
I think posters should be allowed, maybe even required to post the question in their native language first, then in English.
In Spanish:
Aeroplano, Aeroplanos
Avion, Aviones
Planeador, Planeadores
Aeronave, Aeronaves
etc.
But my native language is English - does that mean I'd have to write it twice?
Goose = Geese
Mongoose = Mongooses
We are so fortunate to have English as a delightfully irregular Language. I love it to bits - well, it does pay all my bills.
English isn't very irregular in terms of its basic grammar, is it? There are only a handful of irregular plurals and the only other real irregularity the past tenses of some verbs, but even this is less than in most languages. However I would agree it does have some odd little rules that make it hard to master.
<<I think it might be optional to use "goose" as a collective plural in some contexts (like hunting, maybe?). >>
In hunting, most prey animals become plural in the singular -- you not only hunt deer, but also goose, elk, dove, mountain lion, fox, etc. It's like jargon. You wouldn't necessarily use that form in other contexts.