Christmas is a scant three days hence, and I still have one gift to acquire, and I haven’t wrapped a thing. I’m not letting that stress me out though, since I know people who are worse off than I am. Instead, I’m in even more of a giving mood.
One thing that really grinds my gears is poor spoken grammar. Yeah, I’m a little bothered when I see the incorrect form of there/their/they’re written, or the inappropriate ’s, but I’m more bothered when I hear things like “could care less” or “irregardless” used. For some strange reason, the one thing that bothers me most is the word “alumni” used in singular form. If I hear someone say “soandso is an alumni” of some school, a little part of my brain dies. You cannot be an alumni. Even the word “alum” is acceptable, even though it’s a lazy shortening of the proper form. So, as a test of your knowledge, 2 I-66 points go to the person who can correctly answer any of the following using the proper form of the word “alumni.” Same rules as usual.
1) _________ – singular, male
2) _________ – singular, female
3) __alumni__ – plural, male or combination of male and female
4) _________ – plural, female
Filed under: I-66 Points
I had no idea there were gender differentiations for this word. I like learning new things.
That means you’re not allowed to learn anything else new today.
plural, female – alumnae
Welcome to the competition.
1) Alumnus – singular, male
Why am I not surprised that you are answering one of these?
1, Alumnus
2. Alumna
4. Alumnae
You’re late on 1 and 4, but #2 is yours.
1) Alumman
2) Alumnette
3) Lady Alumni
I think you left out aluminum.
“grinds my gears”…
Okay, Peter.
I can’t believe nobody else mentioned that.
how do you feel about people who end sentences in prepositions? b/c i try not to do that, but it’s really hard.
I tend not to do it. I didn’t even notice it until an English teacher pointed it out to me. Sometimes it sounds weird (e.g. a beat you can dance to / a beat to which you can dance), but for the most part I don’t leave my prepositions dangling.
I am so very, very sad to have missed out on answering this question before others did. This is one of my favorite pieces of grammatical knowledge. I mean it. I like to feel smart & beat people on this one. Yes, I am a grammar jerk.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who enjoys knowing this particular piece of information. I can’t remember where I learned it, but I do love using it.