What about proper nouns as in team mascots? Our school mascot is a Grizzly. Would students be Grizzlies or Grizzlys? Since it’s a school’s mascot I’d like for it to be correct, but for the last 20 years it’s been spelled Grizzlies. I believe that spelling to be incorrect. Academic input please:o)
Plural proper nouns ending in consonant-y
June 10th, 2009 by Chris
5 Responses to “Plural proper nouns ending in consonant-y”
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Teaching English to Preschoolers with iPhones
We (i.e. the creators of Pain in The English) developed a series of iPhone apps to teach preschool kids how to recognize letters and words. (My wife developed the characters and I did the coding.) Our own 4-year old daughter has been enjoying them. They are now available on Apple's App Store. You can search for "bitskis" on your iPhone, or visit the official website at bitskis.com.
If you have kids and own an iPhone, please check it out. It's $2.
as far as I’m familiar with the proper nouns, you don’t make any inflectional changes when making plural form.
with common nouns, as you know, y changes into ie if a consonant precedes y.
but that rule doesn’t stand for proper n.
Bill’s first instinct:
I was taught that pluralizing all forms of nouns is the same. In this context, the correct form is Grizzlies.
This is another issue though that has changed since I was little. People now want to say Grizzlys, which to me is incorrect. It seems that the rule for families — ie, we went out with the Marleys last weekend– is something people want to put into situations of teams and etc. I’m against it but it seems to be up for grabs.
Do not change the spelling of proper nouns, hence Grizzlys.
–English major and TA
Memphis Grizzlies (first Vancouver Grizzlies)… of course the proper plural is “grizzly bears”
The correct plural of “grizzly” is “grizzlies.”
The rule for plural nouns ending in “y” is this:
If the “y” is preceded by a vowel the plural is formed by adding an “s.”
If the “y” is preceded by a consonant the plural is formed by omitting the “y” and substituting “ies.”
Note that neither “grizzly bear” nor “grizzly” (in the sense of a bear rather than as an adjective) are proper nouns. A proper noun is one that designates a particular being or thing. “Grizzly bears” designates a type of bear, as does “grizzly,” not a particular bear. Once you have adopted the word as a name it becomes a proper noun, of course, but it is taken from a common noun that has already been made plural.