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English Grammar: Plural Proper Nouns

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Melanie

English Grammar: Plural Proper Nouns

February 10, 2012 by Melanie

English Grammar: Plural Proper Nouns | English Teacher Melanie

Why do we call the American music awards show The Grammys, and not The Grammies?

One of the first things you learned in English class was the “rule” making the plural form of nouns that end with -y. If a noun with two or more syllables ends in consonant + y, the plural is made by changing the y to an i and adding -es:

baby — babies
party — parties
candy — candies
berry — berries

 
So, shouldn’t it be the Grammies?

No! There is an exception to every rule in English. The “rule” does not apply to PROPER NOUNS!

A proper noun is the name of a person, place, or thing, and it always starts with a capital letter. Grammy is the name of the prize that singers and bands win during the awards show on TV. The only way to make proper noun plural is to add -s or, if the proper noun ends with s, x, z, ch, or sh, -es.

The plural of Grammy is Grammys. The plural of Blackberry is Blackberrys. The Emmy awards (the American television awards) are called the Emmys, not the Emmies. The hockey team in Toronto is called the Maple Leafs, not the Maple Leaves.

 

Can you think of more proper nouns that don’t follow the ‘rules’?

What are The Grammys?
Every year, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gives out the Grammy Awards. The awards are given to people (musicians, songwriters, producers, engineers, etc.) for outstanding achievement in all areas of American music. Members of the academy vote in each category, and the award given to the winners is a statuette of a gramophone. (The gramophone was an early type of record player invented by Thomas Edison.)

 

Filed Under: Blog, Grammar Tagged With: nouns

Comments

  1. Lena Urie says

    April 10, 2014 at 2:16 pm

    Great! Thank you so much! This helped me out a lot in some writing I’ve been doing.

  2. mike says

    October 5, 2014 at 10:12 pm

    Hi , so is red grapes a common noun or a proper noun

    • Melanie says

      October 8, 2014 at 6:56 pm

      A common noun.

      = )

  3. mike says

    October 8, 2014 at 11:58 am

    Would medical jargon be considered common nouns or proper nouns? I suppose legal terminology would be the same.

    • Melanie says

      October 8, 2014 at 6:59 pm

      Well, it depends! For example, a disease or condition named after a person is a proper noun & capitalized:
      Lou Gehrig’s disease
      Alzheimer’s disease
      Hodgkin’s lymphoma

      Everything else is a common noun:
      lung cancer
      radiology
      gastrointestinal endoscopy

      = )

      • mike says

        October 17, 2014 at 4:21 am

        Thank you I appreciate your feedback.

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