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Show lj Take Mq IDord i i ForlU ! 'L By FRANK COLBY jj HANDBOOK OF PRACTICAL ENGLISH Q. In our office we have almost come to blows over the word "whereabouts." Is It singular or plural? A. Whereabouts is a peculiar word. It is plural in form, but since it means "the place where a person or thing is," it must be treated as a singular, for obviously a thing cannot be In more than one place at a time. Correct: His whereabouts is known. On the other hand, headquarters Is customarily used as a plural noun, as: His headquarters are in New York. Q. There has been much discussion discus-sion among us concerning the use of "any more" in such sentences as "John Isn't nice to me any more." Please discuss. A. Use of "any more" to mean "still; now; nowadays" is dialectal, and it appears to have originated in the North Central States. It is frequently fre-quently heard in parts of Indiana. "Any more" is correctly used in negative sentences as: John is not nice to me any more; I do not need any more help. Q. Our English class asks that you give the rule for forming the plurals of such compound words as "attorney at law, mother-in-law," etc. A. A safe rule to follow is to pluralize the noun part of the words. In such compounds as attorney at law, mother-in-law, right of way, commander in chief, the noun parts are, "attorney, mother, right, commander." com-mander." The phrases "at law, Inlaw, In-law, of way, in chief," act as adjectives ad-jectives in that they describe the noun parts. Therefore, the correct plurals are: attorneys at law, mothers-in-law, rights of way, commanders command-ers In chief. Form the possessives thus: attorneys attor-neys at law's, mothers-in-law's, commanders in chief's, etc. Bell Syndicate. WNU Features. |