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Only The Ones With Flawless English Can Score A Perfect 21/21 In This Plural Word Trivia
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Only The Ones With Flawless English Can Score A Perfect 21/21 In This Plural Word Trivia

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This trivia serves as a commemoration of the moment English learners found out that the plural of the word ‘fish’ is not actually what they thought it would be…

Just as someone thinks they have mastered English, a bunch of irregular plural versions of nouns come up and ruin it. The nouns that don’t follow the usual rule of making them plural come as a surprise at times, since some of those words are not used so much in daily life and we tend to use the usual rule. Some of them are English, and some of their etymologies go back to Latin.

Come and take this trivia quiz and let’s learn together!

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    Selin Atalay

    Selin Atalay

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    Read more »

    Hi, I’m a writer here at Bored Panda. When I’m not writing, you can find me reading books, binge-watching TV shows, making pottery and jewelry, or cooking. I love good food and good company. I also love my dog and cat who bring me so much joy every day.

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    Selin Atalay

    Selin Atalay

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    Hi, I’m a writer here at Bored Panda. When I’m not writing, you can find me reading books, binge-watching TV shows, making pottery and jewelry, or cooking. I love good food and good company. I also love my dog and cat who bring me so much joy every day.

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    Ace
    Community Member
    2 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    All OK, as questions go, apart from the first and the last; both criterium and fishes are acceptable alternatives in some circumstances..

    zububonsai
    Community Member
    2 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yep, wasn't it like "fish" is the "usual everyday plural" of "fish" (like, the edible ones you buy in a supermarket), and the rarer form "fishes" used more in zoological context when describing different sorts of fish?

    Load More Replies...
    Trillian
    Community Member
    2 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Never mind that english is my second language, my third is latin and that helped a lot.

    Robert T
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    21/21, but most of those words aren't really English. They are Latin or Greek words adopted into English and so the rules for plurals come from those languages. The trick is knowing which set of rules to apply.

    Bernd Herbert
    Community Member
    2 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    19/21. But hey, as a third language I learned not too bad. Probably much better then I would have done with the first language I learned.

    AndyR
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There is no singular of series - that's kind of the point of things happening in series.

    Pandarosa
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    But we aren't talking about the things, we're talking about the series of things itself, whether there's one of them, two of them or 100 of them.

    Load More Replies...
    Ace
    Community Member
    2 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Someone downvoted you for this? Yes, it can be used as a group term, as opposed to individual cacti/uses.

    Load More Replies...
    Toothless Feline
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I stopped on question 1. “Fish” has two acceptable plurals: “fish” and “fishes”. They’re not fully interchangeable—their usage is slightly different—but there is overlap. So both should be marked as correct answers. Don’t make a tricky language quiz if you’re not prepared to research every question and answer to make sure you’re not overlooking something.

    LtKernelPanic
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    21/21. Then again my mother was a high school English teacher for 25 years so I better have got a good score.

    Bored Seb
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    15/21 with english as second language, I would say not to bad... but having basic knowledge in latin helped me more than english in this scenario ^^

    JohninND
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    18/21. Lived here all my life. Learned to read young and have employed that throughout my life. I did notice a few that left out acceptable alternatives, as another poster noted.

    Karl der Große
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Merriam-Webster's English Dictionary lists "cactuses" as an acceptable plural, and it is generally accepted as proper in American English. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cactus

    Load More Replies...
    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    16 hours ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    hmm generally the singular and plural being the same implies a mass noun/substance, whereas the -es ending implies a count noun or creature/entity. Fish (substance/food); fishes (animals), and 'many fish' (animals) ... vs "a lot of fish" (substance or animals)... Same for tuna. Tuna (food), tunas (animals alive still)... etc.

    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    16 hours ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    21/21... african here. Anyway this is mostly latin/greek. Germanic words like fish/wolves/geese etc are quite regular. I was surprised to not see roof/rooves/roofs/hoof/hooves etc.

    WubiDubi
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Given sheep, fishes and rooves have changed rules recently, I'll pass.

    fzc8yxyj75
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Both cacti and cactuses are grammatically correct plural forms of cactus.

    Dragons Exist
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    19/21, I missed the last one, "criteria", and the "calf" one (I wasn't sure if the plural of the animal was the same as for the body part)

    Liam Walsh
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Did it say it wasn't Mice when you did it? Maybe the system had a funny five minutes as it accepted Mice as the correct answer when I did it.

    Load More Replies...
    Spocks's Mom
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I just missed the last question. I don't think I've ever had more than one "criteria" at a time.

    María Hermida
    Community Member
    2 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The first one is stupid. WTF is an "everyday plural"? And then the explanation says "fishes" is also correct!

    Dragons Exist
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yes? Just like the explanation says, "fish" is singular or plural & "fishes" is the plural of multiple species together

    Load More Replies...
    J C
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I think for mouse, if its a computer mouse the correct plural is actually mouses, not Mice

    Debby Keir
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    To quote *"Loaves and fishes" is a reference to a biblical story in which Jesus fed a crowd using loaves of bread and fish*

    nottheactualphoto
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The biblical stories were not written in English. The translation that most people quote is the King James version; it was done at the behest of King James (duh), the first of England and the sixth of Scotland. It was done in the early 17th century, and the usage was deliberately made to sound kind of old-fashioned.

    Load More Replies...
    Ace
    Community Member
    2 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    All OK, as questions go, apart from the first and the last; both criterium and fishes are acceptable alternatives in some circumstances..

    zububonsai
    Community Member
    2 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yep, wasn't it like "fish" is the "usual everyday plural" of "fish" (like, the edible ones you buy in a supermarket), and the rarer form "fishes" used more in zoological context when describing different sorts of fish?

    Load More Replies...
    Trillian
    Community Member
    2 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Never mind that english is my second language, my third is latin and that helped a lot.

    Robert T
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    21/21, but most of those words aren't really English. They are Latin or Greek words adopted into English and so the rules for plurals come from those languages. The trick is knowing which set of rules to apply.

    Bernd Herbert
    Community Member
    2 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    19/21. But hey, as a third language I learned not too bad. Probably much better then I would have done with the first language I learned.

    AndyR
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There is no singular of series - that's kind of the point of things happening in series.

    Pandarosa
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    But we aren't talking about the things, we're talking about the series of things itself, whether there's one of them, two of them or 100 of them.

    Load More Replies...
    Ace
    Community Member
    2 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Someone downvoted you for this? Yes, it can be used as a group term, as opposed to individual cacti/uses.

    Load More Replies...
    Toothless Feline
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I stopped on question 1. “Fish” has two acceptable plurals: “fish” and “fishes”. They’re not fully interchangeable—their usage is slightly different—but there is overlap. So both should be marked as correct answers. Don’t make a tricky language quiz if you’re not prepared to research every question and answer to make sure you’re not overlooking something.

    LtKernelPanic
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    21/21. Then again my mother was a high school English teacher for 25 years so I better have got a good score.

    Bored Seb
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    15/21 with english as second language, I would say not to bad... but having basic knowledge in latin helped me more than english in this scenario ^^

    JohninND
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    18/21. Lived here all my life. Learned to read young and have employed that throughout my life. I did notice a few that left out acceptable alternatives, as another poster noted.

    Karl der Große
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Merriam-Webster's English Dictionary lists "cactuses" as an acceptable plural, and it is generally accepted as proper in American English. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cactus

    Load More Replies...
    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    16 hours ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    hmm generally the singular and plural being the same implies a mass noun/substance, whereas the -es ending implies a count noun or creature/entity. Fish (substance/food); fishes (animals), and 'many fish' (animals) ... vs "a lot of fish" (substance or animals)... Same for tuna. Tuna (food), tunas (animals alive still)... etc.

    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    16 hours ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    21/21... african here. Anyway this is mostly latin/greek. Germanic words like fish/wolves/geese etc are quite regular. I was surprised to not see roof/rooves/roofs/hoof/hooves etc.

    WubiDubi
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Given sheep, fishes and rooves have changed rules recently, I'll pass.

    fzc8yxyj75
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Both cacti and cactuses are grammatically correct plural forms of cactus.

    Dragons Exist
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    19/21, I missed the last one, "criteria", and the "calf" one (I wasn't sure if the plural of the animal was the same as for the body part)

    Liam Walsh
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Did it say it wasn't Mice when you did it? Maybe the system had a funny five minutes as it accepted Mice as the correct answer when I did it.

    Load More Replies...
    Spocks's Mom
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I just missed the last question. I don't think I've ever had more than one "criteria" at a time.

    María Hermida
    Community Member
    2 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The first one is stupid. WTF is an "everyday plural"? And then the explanation says "fishes" is also correct!

    Dragons Exist
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yes? Just like the explanation says, "fish" is singular or plural & "fishes" is the plural of multiple species together

    Load More Replies...
    J C
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I think for mouse, if its a computer mouse the correct plural is actually mouses, not Mice

    Debby Keir
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    To quote *"Loaves and fishes" is a reference to a biblical story in which Jesus fed a crowd using loaves of bread and fish*

    nottheactualphoto
    Community Member
    1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The biblical stories were not written in English. The translation that most people quote is the King James version; it was done at the behest of King James (duh), the first of England and the sixth of Scotland. It was done in the early 17th century, and the usage was deliberately made to sound kind of old-fashioned.

    Load More Replies...
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