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Question

Difficulty: MediumNouns and Noun Phrases

Complete the sentence below by writing the correct plural form of the compound noun in the blank.

Answer:The managing director held a quarterly review meeting with the 【editors-in-chief】 of all the media subsidiaries.

Answer

editors-in-chief
The compound noun 'editor-in-chief' comprises the head noun 'editor' modified by the prepositional phrase 'in chief'. In standard formal English, pluralization is marked on the head noun, resulting in 'editors-in-chief'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the primary head noun in the compound structure 'editor-in-chief'.
The word 'editor' functions as the principal noun, while 'in-chief' is a modifying prepositional phrase.
In hyphenated compound nouns containing prepositional phrases, plural inflection must be applied to the primary head noun.
2
Apply the plural suffix '-s' to the primary head noun.
'editor' becomes 'editors', yielding the correct plural form 'editors-in-chief'.
Attaching the plural inflection to the tail element 'chief' or pluralizing both elements violates standard grammatical rules for compound noun formation.

Key Concept

Pluralization of Compound Nouns
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Nouns and Noun Phrases

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