This advanced English lesson looks at common mistakes with Latin plural endings. These forms are not used very often, but advanced learners may see or hear them in formal English. In this video, you will learn whether to say fungi or funguses, criteria or criterion, and when to use phenomena or phenomenon.
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English Common Mistakes: Latin Plural Endings
Most English nouns take –s, –es or -ies for their plural form.
▪ dog / dogs
▪ bus / buses
▪ baby / babies
Words with Latin plurals are an exception. These words often come from academic or scientific English and keep their original Latin singular and plural endings. Because Latin is no longer widely taught, these forms are often used incorrectly in English. Common mistakes include:
- Getting the singular and plural forms of the noun mixed up.
- Incorrectly adding an –s to a word that is already plural, e.g. ‘Here are the datas.’ ❌
- Incorrectly adding -es to make a plural, e.g. ‘funguses.’ ⬅ ❌
Note: The word data is technically a plural noun. However, in modern English it is very often treated as a singular mass noun, especially in everyday and professional use. For this reason, both of the sentences below are correct:
🟡 Here is the data. (most commonly used)
🟡 Here are the data. (more formal and academic)
1. fungus vs fungi
These words are scientific terms for mushrooms.
Singular form: fungus
Plural form: fungi
Common mistake: funguses
2. cactus vs cacti
Singular form: cactus
A spiky plant found in the desert!
Plural form: cacti
Pronounce it like a tie you wear around your neck ➡ ‘KAK-tie‘.
Common mistake: cactuses
3. crisis vs crises
*These words are from Greek.
Singular form: crisis
A crisis is a difficult period in your life where something shocking or unexpected happens. Pronounce it using the word ‘cry’ joined with the first syllable of the word sister: ‘sis’.
Plural form: crises
Pronounce this using the word ‘cry’ again, but this time joined with the word ‘seas’ (like the ocean) ➡ CRY-seas.
Common mistake: crisises
4. criterion vs criteria
Singular form: criterion
The meaning of this word goes back to the word ‘critic’ in ancient Greek, which means ‘to judge something’. Therefore, the word criterion means a single factor by which something is judged.
Plural form: criteria
Then we have a set of criteria, these are the rules or requirements by which something is judged. For example, ‘To apply for this job, you need to meet the selection criteria’ (more than one requirement must be met).
Common mistakes: criterions or criterias
Singular form: phenomenon
The meaning of this word is to do with something that is observable in a scientific sense; we could be talking about the weather, the social sciences, or something that has changed from its natural behavior. For example, more people than ever are working from home so we could say: ‘Working from home is a recent social phenomenon’.
Plural form: phenomena
Common mistake: phenomenons
Pronunciation Note: The <ph> spelling at the start of both of these words is pronounced as an /f/ sound.
6. datum vs data
Singular form (rarely used): datum
Plural form: data
This is a word to describe information that is collected.
Common mistake: datas
7. memorandum vs memoranda
Singular form (very formal): memorandum
This word means ‘an official notice’. It tends to be used in formal or legal contexts. For example, when buying a house, the ‘memorandum of sale’ is a document that contains the essential details of the transaction.
Plural form (very formal and rarely used): memoranda
Example: ‘The bank will send out information memoranda to potential investors next week’.
Shortened: memo (singular) or memos (plural)
“Did you get the company memo?”
Common mistakes: memorandas or memorandums
8. medium or media?
This pair of words is unusual because the singular and plural meanings are different.
Singular form: medium
The word medium refers to the material used to create an artwork. In an art gallery, the description under a picture often tells you the medium, for example pastel on paper. In some cases, the plural mediums is used. For example, painting, sculpture and drawing are traditional mediums of art.
Plural form: media
Media is the word we use to refer to newspapers, television, and radio. These are different ways of sharing news and information. It is always incorrect to say ‘the news medias’. Instead, we say, ‘The issue has been widely discussed in the media’.
REMEMBER…
Don’t pronounce these plural words with an -s or -es on the end:
fungusescactusescriterionsphenomenonsdatasmemorandasmedias
Extend Your Learning
▶︎ Download the lesson worksheet, which contains extra notes on pronunciation and sentence examples: Latin Plurals Worksheet.
▶︎ Watch another common English mistakes lesson on ‘inquiry’, ‘query’ and ‘enquire’.
▶︎ Learn the difference between confusing phrasal verbs ‘Go back’ VS ‘come back’
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