| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| PLURALS OF COMPOUND NOUNS |
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| Words like doghouse, ballpark, and icemaker are compounds; they have primary stress on the first syllable or front element, tertiary stress on the second syllable or rear element. All form their plurals by adding -s to the end of the second element: doghouses, ballparks, and icemakers. Mouse dropping, clothing store, and pit bull exhibit the same stress pattern and form their plurals the same way. Hyphenated words like brother-in-law, mother-in-law, and commander-in-chief all add -s to the end of the first element to form their plurals: brothers-in-law, mothers-in-law, commanders-in-chief. If the compound ends in -ful (basketful, armful, cupful), the plurals usually add -s to the end of -ful (basketfuls, armfuls, cupfuls), although basketsful, armsful, and cupsful do sometimes occur. Advocate general, attorney general, and mother superior have the primary stress on the second element and so are not true compounds, despite a superficial resemblance; hence it is not surprising that they usually form their plurals by adding -s to the first element—the noun—to make the plural: advocates general, attorneys general, mothers superior. Even so, although still rare in Edited English, the plurals advocate generals, attorney generals, and mother superiors are now beginning to turn up in Standard English, limited still (but perhaps not for long) mainly to Conversational and Informal uses. | 1 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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