Make Your Editor Cry: Emphasis (Awkward Plural)
BLUF: (Bottom Line Up Front)
The plural of emphasis is emphases.
The definition of emphasis: special consideration of or stress or insistence on something
The singular of emphasis is emphasis. The plural of emphasis is emphases. There is no alternative English plural form that conforms to the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English.
The words emphasis’ or emphasises as a plural are not things. The word emphasis’ is a possessive of the singular form, not a plural, and would be extremely rare in usage. The word emphasises is not a real word which is a small but important distinction.
The noun emphasis has a Greek root—exposition, emphasis, from emphainein to indicate, from en- + phainein to show —which is the derivation of the plural emphases. The plural noun emphases does not conform to the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English.
Each course is taught with different emphases within the broad field of sport, exercise, health and rehabilitation.
Stories are told from many different perspectives and emphases.
Gregg Bridgeman is the Editor-in-Chief at Olivia Kimbrell Press. He is husband to best-selling Christian author Hallee Bridgeman and parent to three. He continues to proudly serve in the US Armed Forces and has done so in either an active or reserve capacity for more than twenty years as an airborne and air assault qualified paratrooper, earning a Bronze Star for his service. Most importantly, he was ordained in October of 2001 after surrendering his life to Christ decades earlier.
