Kevin
October 19, 2020
The Plural of...
If you have ever needed to use the plural form of yes and wondered what it is, you have come to the right place. This article will teach you what yes is, the plural form of the word, the history and origin, synonyms, and examples of the word in context.
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According to the Oxford American Dictionary, the word yes is defined as:
Because the root language for the word yes is from the Old English gēse and Middle English yɛs, we can follow the stand rules of pluralization for words ending in s. This would give us the word ‘yeses’ when referring to number of yes’s as opposed to noes. There is an alternative camp of people who instead think the spelling is yesses and it is technically a correct form of the word as well but it doesn’t look right to most people.
This is a common debate when pluralizing words ending with the letter s. The same argument happens with words like bus (busses or buses) and also gas (gases, gasses). The reasoning behind adding the -ses instead of es is for aiding with pronunciation. However, the other camp in the argument over these words prefers the look of the word with just the es added to the end.
The word yes has been used since before the 12th century as an adverb. The use of the word yes as a noun wasn’t recorded till 1712. The word yes comes from Middle English and also Old English. It was spelled gēse and was used exclusively as an adverb.
The English language can be a tricky thing since it is a compilation of many other languages. Finding the correct plural forms of words is an important step to becoming well educated. Now you are an expert on all things related to our word of the day, yes. Next time you need to write the word yes for your English teacher, you will be well prepared for everything you need to know what it is and how to do it the correct way.
