和谐英语

VOA慢速英语:Everyday Grammar: Unusual Plurals

2015-09-19来源:VOA
Words in This Story

ram – n. an adult male sheep

ewe – n. a female sheep

umlaut – n. a mark ¨ placed over a vowel (such as a u in German) to indicate a specific pronunciation

voiceless – adj. technical, of a sound made without moving your vocal cords

voiced – adj. technical, of a sound made by moving your vocal cords

suffix – n. a letter or a group of letters that is added to the end of a word to change its meaning or to form a different word

Now it’s your turn. Write a sentence with an unusual plural and we'll give you feedback in the comments section.

Reference

American linguist John McWhorter produced video on the history of English plurals on TED for Education.