Plural Form/Apostrophe S for Greek letters

[queequek]

Is Greek similar with Latin? So for instance, plural Pi Phi would be Pi Phii (double "i") and such (like in "alumnus" becomes "alumni", "alumna" becomes "alumnae"). But this doesn't make sense, since then everything else would sound so weird. Plural Alpha Tau Omega = Alpha Tau Omege?

NEVER MIND ... just a theory

[angelove]

That doesn't work, because in Latin the "i" is the plural for nouns ending in "us" and "a" is the plural for nouns ending in "um."

But - if "Phi" could be converted as a singular or plural to "Phum," and we merge this thread with the pronunciation thread, we could have some combination of "Phee Phie [Pho? or Phoe?] Phum," which might make everyone happy.

[MissOh2Cute]

Originally posted by queequek
Is Greek similar with Latin? So for instance, plural Pi Phi would be Pi Phii (double "i") and such (like in "alumnus" becomes "alumni", "alumna" becomes "alumnae"). But this doesn't make sense, since then everything else would sound so weird. Plural Alpha Tau Omega = Alpha Tau Omege?

NEVER MIND ... just a theory

If that were true, would something like "we Pi Phis" become similar to Pi Phiimus?? Or "those Pi Phis" would be Pi Phiirunt?? or Phirunt???

Yikes! Time to search around my brain for those 5 years of Latin I had! Forget I even tried.....sigh...

[LightBulb]

Goodness... I think Senusret was just trying to be funny! No reason to freak out!

[GammaPhiBabe]

Maybe she is, maybe she isn't, but you've been condescending since your first post.

I don't think so. I was just pointing out the difference between the plural and possessive form since the other person who answered you seemed not to understand. I'm very sorry if you had a problem with the way I answered the post. I most definitely did not mean to hurt her feelings or yours. I thought that her last post was extremely defensive and I don't really understand where that was coming from. There are so many more important things to get worked up over. Then again, it is impossible to tell the tone or expression of a post on the internet, so perhaps she took my answer the wrong way.

I fully understand the DIFFERENCE between plural and possessive. I write books.

I have the common sense, grades, full ride AND test scores to prove it.

I teach English grammar and creative writing, and I have a Master's in English language arts. I am also a published author. AND.... If you REALLY want to go back to test scores, I made a perfect score of 36 on the reading and grammar sections of the ACT about 11 years ago when I took the darn thing, got a scholarship to undergrad and a fellowship to grad school, and I finished with a 4.0.
I didn't realize we needed to post our credentials here. I thought that all I did was answer the poster's question and try to clarify something that she was confused about. You would be shocked at the number of people who really are in college now and haven't a clue about the difference between plural and possessive nouns. I suspect that some of them may read this board, but certainly neither of you two are among them. Again, I am very sorry. Please accept my apology.

Now I remember why I don't read this board or post very often any more. I'll check back in a month or two.

[Senusret I]

Originally posted by GammaPhiBabe
I thought that all I did was answer the poster's question and try to clarify something that she was confused about.

The questions Originally posted by Senusret I, who is a man in case there was any confusion

But HOW COME it looks so funny when it's a Greek letter ending in I?

Is it just me? Am I doing something wrong?

See you in two months!

[tunatartare]

I remember reading somewhere that if a word is foreign, then you're supposed to put an apostrophe to pluralize it. I don't know if that also follows for foreign alphabets or just full words, but if that were the case, then Alpha would turn into Alpha's and so on.

[kddani]

Originally posted by Senusret I
Maybe she is, maybe she isn't, but you've been condescending since your first post.

Gotta agree with this.

Seems to happen a lot from people with these kinds of degrees, etc. blah blah blah in these threads.

IT'S FREAKIN GRAMMAR, PEOPLE, CHILL THE HELL OUT! And leave the condescending attitudes at the door.

[KSigkid]

Two things I love:

1)When people announce they're leaving the board (they usually come back in 5 minutes)

2)When threads like this get out of control.


Too funny.

[navane]

Originally posted by Senusret I

But HOW COME it looks so funny when it's a Greek letter ending in I?

Pi Chis
Alpha Phis
Xis
Rho Chis

Is it just me? Am I doing something wrong?

Oh for goodness sake people! They guy asked a question and everyone went off on one.

Senusret I, to answer your question , it's just you. As far as I can tell, you haven't done anything wrong. Because there aren't that many English words which end with the letter "I", I would guess that this is the reason it looks funny to you. That is, the combination seems unfamiliar to your mind.

.....Kelly

[33girl]

The Alpha Chi Rhos said to us once, "Lets go over to you're house and eat alot of pizza's."

tOo FuNnY!!*<---- :-)

[Senusret I]

Originally posted by navane
Oh for goodness sake people! They guy asked a question and everyone went off on one.

Senusret I, to answer your question , it's just you.

LOLOLOLOLOL!!!! That was funny to me.

Originally posted by navane
As far as I can tell, you haven't done anything wrong. Because there aren't that many English words which end with the letter "I", I would guess that this is the reason it looks funny to you. That is, the combination seems unfamiliar to your mind.

.....Kelly

Well, thanks! Much appreciated.

[navane]

Originally posted by KSigkid
Two things I love:

1)When people announce they're leaving the board (they usually come back in 5 minutes)

Just a couple of points of clarification in defense of my sister:

#1) She did not say she was leaving the board. She said she was going to go back to only posting every couple of months.

#2) She's only posted a grand total of 11 times in the last 3 months - 5 of which were posts to this thread. (Yeah, I went and counted....so sue me.) There were no posts from her at all in October or November. Soooooo..... she's not being silly or hypocritical as you imply, she's being perfectly consistant with her statement.

.....Kelly

[bruinaphi]

I agree with Kelly that it is just you, but that may be because I am always reading and writing Phis or Phi's and I have stopped seeing it as odd.

[m0rgan]

Originally posted by GammaPhiBabe
How is it that you all got through high school and into college without understanding the difference between plural and possessive?

those's fight'n words!

(how's my grammar?? )