| A lot of these words have multiple accepted plurals. From merriam-webster.com:
Antenna: antennae or antennas
Appendix: appendices or appendixes
Bureau: bureaux or bureaus
Cactus: cacti or cactuses, also cactus
Cherub: cherubim (an order of angels), or cherubs (winged children depicted in art)
Die: dice (cubes used in gambling) or dies (forms for shaping metal)
Focus: foci, also focuses
Fungus: fungi, also funguses
Index: indexes or indices
Louse: lice (parasitic insects) or louses (contemptible people)
Matrix: matrices or matrixes
Mouse: mice, also mouses (manual devices for moving a computer cursor)
Nucleus: nuclei, also nucleuses
Octopus: octopuses or octopi
Ox: oxen, also ox
Person: m-w does not explicitly list a plural for 'person', and lists 'people' as a separate entry. However, the entry for 'people' does include 'persons' among the definitions. The linguistic distinction between person/persons/people is rather thorny, so I'm not going to claim that 'people' is incorrect.
Phenomenon: phenomena or phenomenons
Radius: radii, also radiuses
Seraph: seraphim or seraphs
Shrimp: shrimps or shrimp
Syllabus: syllabi or syllabuses
Vertebra: vertebrae or vertebras
Vertex: vertices, also vertexes
I believe that "also" indicates that the former spelling is highly favored over the latter, and if you are writing for a newspaper or publishing house, house style may stipulate a particular plural form, but this doesn't mean that the other choices are incorrect. |
