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From: jcf@world.std.com (Joseph C Fineman)
Subject: Re: Bizarre error: "formulum"
Message-ID: <E2oMMz.1F@world.std.com>
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
References: <E2J4JE.18n@world.std.com>   <E2n5sM.IA3@scn.org>
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 22:32:59 GMT
Lines: 20

lilandbr@scn.org (Leland Bryant Ross) writes:

>In a previous article, jcf@world.std.com (Joseph C Fineman) says:

>>    Formulum (3.9)-(3.10) mean that...
>>
>>It _seems_ the idea is: since (e.g.) the plural of "cranium" is
>>"crania", the plural of "formula" must be "formulum".

>In the example you cite "Formulum" appears to me to be singular; the
>writer's grammatical-number error appears to be in the failure to add
>-s to "mean".

That seems unlikely to me.  On the face of it, the expression
"(3.9)-(3.10)" refers not to one formula but to two successive
formulae.  The plural verb is therefore correct.

---  Joe Fineman    jcf@world.std.com

||:  The higher the monkey climbs, the more he shows his rear.  :||
