DIS spelling/grammar experts

[PollyannaMom]

How do you correctly pluralize words, when it's the actual words that you're counting?

For example, consider a paragraph that has five occurrences of the word no in it. Do you say it has five nos, five no's, or five "no"s? - None of those look right to me (though spell check is oddly leaving the middle one unflagged.)

What about yesses? (That doesn't get flagged either, but there seems to be a different rule at work there.)


When writing something formal, I would just do what I did above to get around it, but I'm trying to write down a spoken quote (about sticking to what you say as a parent):

"If they can't believe your no's, they won't believe your yesses."

Obviously, this version has problems, but you get the idea. I'm looking for suggestions to correct it (or, I guess, weird rules I don't know, explaining why it's actually OK.)

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

I found this on a grammar blog. However, I've NEVER spelled the plural of NO as NOES. They mention there is more than one way to spell them in the note section.

 

[cabanafrau]

I think with yes and no in particular I remember learning something about both noes and nos being correct, and yeses and yesses being correct. For me I've always felt noes looks like either a committee voting on a motion or something from ye olden times and both yeses and yesses always look wrong.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Do you say it has five nos, five no's, or five "no"s?

The plural of no is noes. The plural of yes is yeses or yesses.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Thanks!!

 

[_19disnA]

If some sort of informal writing like an email or to a friend, I don't think it matters either way. If you are writing something official in a business setting, I find it more practical to reword the statement to avoid awkward grammar. In this example, I would instead reword it to say "twelve people responded NO, while four replied YES" or something similar.

"Noes" or "yesses" looks strange to me and I would imagine most others even if technically correct.

 

[design_mom]

I agree with @_19disnA. I think nos and noes are both acceptable, and yeses and yesses are both acceptable. However, personally, I'd try to re-write the sentence to avoid pluralizing either of them.

In your quotation, if it's a direct quote, I'd write it however they did, but I think you could reuse the sentiment by saying "If they don't believe your no, they won't believe your yes either."

 

[Skywalker3]

I would never use an apostrophe to make a plural like that . WRONG. Apostrophes are for possessives or contractions, and NOT for making plurals. Online Merriam Webster, explains that the plural of no is nos or noes. I would probably use yesses for the plural of yes, like I do with busses, however, I'm finally starting to bend a little, and sometimes use buses for the plural of bus. Maybe, like the PP recommended, try to rework the sentence, if it just doesn't look right.

 

[PollyannaMom]

"Noes" or "yesses" looks strange to me and I would imagine most others even if technically correct.

Exactly!

 

[figment52]

"If they can't believe your "NO", they won't believe your "YES"

 

[ronandannette]

I would never use an apostrophe to make a plural like that . WRONG. Apostrophes are for possessives or contractions, and NOT for making plurals. Online Merriam Webster, explains that the plural of no is nos or noes. I would probably use yesses for the plural of yes, like I do with busses, however, I'm finally starting to bend a little, and sometimes use buses for the plural of bus. Maybe, like the PP recommended, try to rework the sentence, if it just doesn't look right.

All I know for certain is that nothing is EVER pluralized with an apostrophe. It drives me mad to see it - especially when used for naming groups of people. The Smith family are the Smiths, not the Smith's.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I would never use an apostrophe to make a plural like that . WRONG. Apostrophes are for possessives or contractions, and NOT for making plurals.

The only exception to that I could find to that was when pluralizing lowercase letters (like in: "Mind your p's and q's.") - That's why I was surprised when that was the version spell check accepted. - But I never thought to type it as "noes" at first, either, and that one is also OK.)

 

[Micca]

This sounds like something Dr. Phil would say...it's ok as a spoken statement, it sucks in writing. I'd just re-write the whole thing avoiding the plural of yes and no.

 

[mom2rtk]

I'd write it as "no votes" or "yes votes". If it looks or feels awkward, I just find another way.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

In the British parliament, after a debate and vote, the Speaker says ‘ the noes have it’, or alternatively ‘the ayes’.

 

[fly girl]

And this is another reason why our Dis grammar experts surely have a heyday with my posts. Honestly, I didn't remember noes. Yesses? That just looks weird to me.

My apologies for making you all cringe with my apostrophes. I know I have done it. For some reason the Progressive commercial with the guy spotting the blue hair comes to mind with this. "We all see it, we all see it." Seriously though, thank you for not making me feel worse.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I went with the -es spellings, and slightly changing the font on the base words:

 

[MrsPete]

five nos, five no's, or five "no"s

What about yesses?

From a grammar teacher:

While "noes" is technically correct, it is so rare a usage /looks so odd to the eye that it's better to reword the sentence; for example, "Five people voted against ____". It's rare that you cannot reword to avoid awkwardness.

An apostrophe (') can mean two things:
- Possession; for example, that's Joe's baseball. The apostrophe shows that the baseball belongs to Joe.
- Contraction; for example, can + not = can't.
- An apostrophe cannot do anything else. Ever.

A quotation mark is used for one thing: quotations. You can never omit a letter from a quotation (for example "no"s).

As for "yeses" (not "yesses"), again, you might be more successful if you were to reword. Even "ayes" looks better than "yeses".

 

[NannyBeBe]

I would probably use yesses for the plural of yes, like I do with busses, however, I'm finally starting to bend a little, and sometimes use buses for the plural of bus.

Since the word buss means kiss, the word busses means kisses. The plural of bus is buses. I wouldn't want to confuse a bus with a kiss.

 

[cabanafrau]

And this is another reason why our Dis grammar experts surely have a heyday with my posts. Honestly, I didn't remember noes. Yesses? That just looks weird to me.

My apologies for making you all cringe with my apostrophes. I know I have done it. For some reason the Progressive commercial with the guy spotting the blue hair comes to mind with this. "We all see it, we all see it." Seriously though, thank you for not making me feel worse.

I agree. If I'm reading along and see noes I'm expecting someone to be banging a gavel and the motion denied or I've fallen into ye olden days. And I'm giving a side eye to both yesses and yeses, because neither one is pleasing to the eye.