Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Plural of consensus?

4,270 views
Skip to first unread message

Bonnie Nestor (NESTORM@FEDC04.FED.ORNL.GOV)

unread,
Jun 7, 1994, 5:03:59 PM6/7/94
to
Okay, so it's not as much fun as the question about genitalia. And yes, I
looked in Webster's New Collegiate and in the American Heritage
Dictionary, New College Edition, neither of which lists a plural,
and I hunted around through various online resources. The "standard"
rule (if a word ends in "s", add "es") produces a seriously ugly-looking
construction: consensuses. I don't know enough Latin even to know
whether Latin rules apply.

Any takers?
Thanks.

Bonnie Nestor
m...@ornl.gov

DISCLAIMER: These are not the official opinions of the U.S. Department of
Energy, Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, or anyone else but me -- as far as I know.

Marie Coffin

unread,
Jun 7, 1994, 6:13:24 PM6/7/94
to
In article <7JUN94....@fedc04.fed.ornl.gov>, nes...@fedc04.fed.ornl.gov (Bonnie Nestor (NES...@FEDC04.FED.ORNL.GOV)) writes:
> Okay, so it's not as much fun as the question about genitalia. And yes, I
> looked in Webster's New Collegiate and in the American Heritage
> Dictionary, New College Edition, neither of which lists a plural,
> and I hunted around through various online resources. The "standard"
> rule (if a word ends in "s", add "es") produces a seriously ugly-looking
> construction: consensuses. I don't know enough Latin even to know
> whether Latin rules apply.
>
> Any takers?
> Thanks.
>
> Bonnie Nestor
> m...@ornl.gov


I don't think "consensuses" is that ugly-looking. I find myself more
concerned with trying to imagine a sentence in which it would be
useful.


Marie Coffin


Paul Giaccone

unread,
Jun 8, 1994, 9:43:53 AM6/8/94
to
Bonnie Nestor (NES...@FEDC04.FED.ORNL.GOV) (nes...@fedc04.fed.ornl.gov) wrote:
: Okay, so it's not as much fun as the question about genitalia. And yes, I

: looked in Webster's New Collegiate and in the American Heritage
: Dictionary, New College Edition, neither of which lists a plural,
: and I hunted around through various online resources. The "standard"
: rule (if a word ends in "s", add "es") produces a seriously ugly-looking
: construction: consensuses. I don't know enough Latin even to know
: whether Latin rules apply.

: Any takers?
: Thanks.

If the dictionary doesn't list the plural, then that is because it is
regular. Hence the plural is "consensuses". This may look ugly to Bonnie
because she isn't used to seeing it, but compare the more commonly seen
"buses" and "walruses" (_pace_ any zoologists who would insist on "walrus"
being invariable).

"Consensus" takes only -es to make its plural as it is polysyllabic and
not stressed on the last syllable. ("Buses" is thus an exception.)

--
Paul
cs_...@kingston.ac.uk

Laura Johnson

unread,
Jun 8, 1994, 5:11:22 PM6/8/94
to
Marie Coffin (mco...@math.clemson.edu) wrote:

: I don't think "consensuses" is that ugly-looking. I find myself more


: concerned with trying to imagine a sentence in which it would be
: useful.

"I would find it easier to obtain several walruses in Chicago than to obtain
several consensuses in this newsgroup."

Ted Marcus

unread,
Jun 8, 1994, 1:50:00 AM6/8/94
to
Bonnie Nestor wrote:

BN(>Okay, so it's not as much fun as the question about genitalia. And yes, I

Doesn't that belong in alt.sex.genitalia?

But seriously, isn't GenItalia the name of an airline that flies
between Geneva and various Italian cities?

Ted R. Marcus
Internet reply to: ted.marcus%greate...@kaiwan.com

* SLMR 2.1a * Windows: So intuitive it only needs a meg of help files

Mark Israel

unread,
Jun 10, 1994, 9:06:04 AM6/10/94
to
In article <7JUN94....@fedc04.fed.ornl.gov>, nes...@fedc04.fed.ornl.gov (Bonnie Nestor) writes:

> The "standard" rule (if a word ends in "s", add "es") produces a
> seriously ugly-looking construction: consensuses. I don't know
> enough Latin even to know whether Latin rules apply.

"Consensus" was 4th-declension in Latin, so the Latin plural
looks the same as the singular: "consensus". The "u" was
pronounced short in the singular and long in the plural.

"Consensi" would definitely be wrong. Only 2nd-declension nouns
in "-us" had plurals in "-i".

"Consensus" is missing from the list of 4th-declension nouns in
my FAQ file. My next edition will repair this omission. Thank you
for bringing it to my attention.

mis...@csi.uottawa.ca Mark Israel

hank.st...@gmail.com

unread,
May 7, 2015, 11:36:14 AM5/7/15
to
What about "consenses"?

micky

unread,
May 7, 2015, 11:58:51 AM5/7/15
to
What's the plural of census?

Or percensus, isocensus, discensus, tetracensus, dodecacensus, or
antidisestablishmentacensus?


--
Please say where you live, or what
area's English you are asking about.
So your question or answer makes sense.
. .
I have lived all my life in the USA,
Western Pa. Indianapolis, Chicago,
Brooklyn, Baltimore.

Guy Barry

unread,
May 7, 2015, 12:00:14 PM5/7/15
to
hank.st...@gmail.com wrote in message
news:f74544a7-dab8-4f7c...@googlegroups.com...
It's just as wrong now as it would have been in 1994. "-es" is a
third-declension plural.

Interesting question, though. I don't think "consensus" actually has a
plural in common use. Fourth-declension plurals in "-us" aren't generally
used in English, and as pointed out above the regular English plural is
seriously awkward to pronounce.

--
Guy Barry

Guy Barry

unread,
May 7, 2015, 12:12:12 PM5/7/15
to
"micky" wrote in message news:3q2nkah6u58h43g8i...@4ax.com...
>
>On Thu, 7 May 2015 08:36:11 -0700 (PDT), hank.st...@gmail.com wrote:

>>What about "consenses"?
>
>What's the plural of census?

"Censuses". However, "consensus" is unrelated to "census", despite the
common misspelling of the word as "concensus".

--
Guy Barry

Athel Cornish-Bowden

unread,
May 7, 2015, 12:23:22 PM5/7/15
to
What about it? Is there a precedent for forming the plural of a word
ending in -us in that way?

You do realize, of course, that you're replying to a post from 21 years ago?


--
athel

Arcadian Rises

unread,
May 7, 2015, 1:31:57 PM5/7/15
to
On Thursday, May 7, 2015 at 12:00:14 PM UTC-4, Guy Barry wrote:
> hank.st...@gmail.com wrote in message
> news:f74544a7-dab8-4f7c...@googlegroups.com...
> >
> >On Friday, June 10, 1994 at 9:10:09 AM UTC-4, Mark Israel wrote:
> >> In article <7JUN94....@fedc04.fed.ornl.gov>,
> >> nes...@fedc04.fed.ornl.gov (Bonnie Nestor) writes:
> >>
> >> > The "standard" rule (if a word ends in "s", add "es") produces a
> >> > seriously ugly-looking construction: consensuses. I don't know
> >> > enough Latin even to know whether Latin rules apply.
> >>
> >> "Consensus" was 4th-declension in Latin, so the Latin plural
> >> looks the same as the singular: "consensus". The "u" was
> >> pronounced short in the singular and long in the plural.
> >>
> >> "Consensi" would definitely be wrong. Only 2nd-declension nouns
> >> in "-us" had plurals in "-i".
> >>
> >> "Consensus" is missing from the list of 4th-declension nouns in
> >> my FAQ file. My next edition will repair this omission. Thank you
> >> for bringing it to my attention.
> >>
> >> mis...@csi.uottawa.ca Mark Israel
> >
> >What about "consenses"?
>
> It's just as wrong now as it would have been in 1994. "-es" is a
> third-declension plural.
>
> Interesting question, though. I don't think "consensus" actually has a
> plural in common use.

I agree, I don't see the need for plural, so the question is purely academic.

Peter Moylan

unread,
May 7, 2015, 9:35:17 PM5/7/15
to
On 08/05/15 01:36, hank.st...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Friday, June 10, 1994 at 9:10:09 AM UTC-4, Mark Israel wrote:

The last we heard of Mark, he was badly injured in an accident. Has
anyone heard what happened since?

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

musika

unread,
May 7, 2015, 9:57:35 PM5/7/15
to
On 08/05/2015 02:35, Peter Moylan wrote:
> On 08/05/15 01:36, hank.st...@gmail.com wrote:
>> On Friday, June 10, 1994 at 9:10:09 AM UTC-4, Mark Israel wrote:
>
> The last we heard of Mark, he was badly injured in an accident. Has
> anyone heard what happened since?
>
It was reported in this group that Mark had died in 2010.
It was linked to this website:
<http://www.degreeinfo.com/off-topic-discussions/35586-mark-israel-has-died.html>
--
Ray
UK

Peter Moylan

unread,
May 7, 2015, 11:56:59 PM5/7/15
to
Thanks. That must have been during my temporary absence from AUE.

sfry...@gmail.com

unread,
Jun 20, 2019, 5:02:30 AM6/20/19
to
What would the Iowa Cauci say?
I like the sound of consensi from my school-latin instinct only. Cd u poss give me pls an update lesson in/on what these different declensions are?

s...@miracleread.com UK / Oxford

Ken Blake

unread,
Jun 20, 2019, 12:09:49 PM6/20/19
to
On Thu, 20 Jun 2019 02:02:27 -0700 (PDT), sfry...@gmail.com wrote:

>What would the Iowa Cauci say?
>I like the sound of consensi from my school-latin instinct only. Cd u poss give me pls an update lesson in/on what these different declensions are?

According to
https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/the-plural-of/consensus.html the
plural of consensus is consensuses.

rpmor...@gmail.com

unread,
Jul 25, 2019, 9:27:22 PM7/25/19
to
It's lovely to see you guys taking an interest in the English language. In response to the original question, I don't think there can be a plural, as there can only be one Consensus. That being the ultimate descision. Keep up the good work...Richard xx

Athel Cornish-Bowden

unread,
Jul 26, 2019, 2:37:14 AM7/26/19
to
Is that a record? An answer after 25 years?

--
athel

J. J. Lodder

unread,
Jul 26, 2019, 3:02:55 PM7/26/19
to
<rpmor...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tuesday, June 7, 1994 at 10:03:59 PM UTC+1, Bonnie Nestor (NESTORM@FEDC04.F
Of course there is a plural, and it is needed.
There is the right consensus, that of the president and his friends,
and the false consensus of the others, aka fake news,

Jan


J. J. Lodder

unread,
Jul 26, 2019, 3:02:55 PM7/26/19
to
At least he? hasn't cut the original date,

Jan

bill van

unread,
Jul 27, 2019, 2:42:42 AM7/27/19
to
There are consensuses about many topics.

bill

0 new messages