SJC-style-and-production-guide-2012

individual.phenomenon is the singular form of phenomena which is often wrongly used for either.phishing In computer security, phishing is the fraudulent process of attempting to acquiresensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masqueradingas a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication, usually email.platypus is the singular of platypuses. Not platypi.plurals Plurals are generally formed by adding an ‘s’ or ‘es’ to the singular noun (donkeys,asses). But English has many other plural forms.Many words that end in ‘y’ change to ‘ies’ in the plural (‘babies’, ‘gypsies’), except when theyare proper nouns (‘the two Germanys’, ‘both Aunt Sallys’).Many words ending in ‘f’ or ‘fe’ take ‘ves’ in the plural (‘self’/’selves’, ‘life’/’lives’). Otherssimply take an ‘s’ (‘belief’/ ‘beliefs’, ‘roof’/ ‘roofs’, ‘carafe’/ ‘carafes’). Some have optional‘ves’ or ‘s’ plurals; in this case use the dictionary’s first option.The ‘o’ ending can vary randomly (‘potatoes’, ‘tomatoes’, ‘broncos’, ‘albinos’). Words thatend in ‘i’ can be trusted always to take only ‘s’ in the plural (‘taxis’, ‘corgis’, ‘bikinis’).The plurals of Greek-derived words that end in ‘on’ may be formed with ‘a’(‘phenonemon’/’phenomena’, ‘criterion’/’criteria’) or simply with an ‘s’ (‘protons’,‘neutrons’, ‘skeletons’).Remember that ‘the media are’, ‘the data are’ and ‘the strata are’; ‘the phenomenon is’ and ‘thecriterion is’.Plurals of Latin words ending in ‘us’, such as ‘cactus’ and ‘ignoramus’, are usually formedwith the addition of ‘es’, not ‘i’: ‘cactuses’. Others, such as ‘genus’ and ‘opus’ require the‘era’ ending: ‘genera’, ‘opera’. Greek words ending in ‘pus’ (for ‘foot’), such as ‘platypus’ and‘octopus’, no longer have the plural ‘podes’ ending and never had the ‘i’ ending. Plurals areformed with ‘es’.The plural ‘-s’ does not apply to metric contractions. Write 20km (not kms), 25km/h, 45g (notgms), 2.3kg, 25t, 30c, 250kW, etc. Although grammar texts may offer some rough rules ofthumb for the many forms of plurals in English, students should learn the plurals of commonlyused words and check with a dictionary when in doubt.point in time Do not use this hackneyed phrase. See at.poky too small. Pokie vernacular of poker machine.poured and pored. Poured is the past tense of pouring liquid – milk, water etc. Pored is the pasttense of ‘to pore’ over or read with great concentration.PoW for prisoner of war. PoWs plural.practicable is a task able to be done with relative ease and inconvenience. ‘Finalising the reportby tomorrow is practicable’. Practical is an idea or person who is not theoretical. They mayalso be theoretical, of course, with a practical bent. But the concepts should not be confused,even though they are both present in the one person.practice (n) practise (v) See also licence (n) and license (v) advice (n) and advise (v). Practicesmay be practised; licensees are licensed and hold licences. American usage differs.prescribe to establish prior conditions; or a medical practitioner prescribes drugs. Proscribe isUQ SJC STYLEBOOK 2012 – PAGE 52