Plurals

Summons and summonses

Summons is a singular noun meaning a call by an authority to appear or to do something. It’s most often used in legal contexts for notice summoning a defendant or witness to appear in court. Despite the s at the end, summons functions like any other singular noun—for example: Evansville police said they will see that a court summons is issued for a man who they say was too drunk to go to jail early Sunday. [Evansville Courier & Press] …

Read More

Criteria, criterion

Criteria is becoming singular, and criterion is disappearing from English, but we are still early in the process and the more traditional forms remain safer in formal writing.