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Question

Difficulty: HardNouns and Noun Phrases

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

Answer:During the judicial review, the defense counsel submitted that the two 【courts-martial】 convened by the military commander had proceeded without statutory jurisdiction.

Answer

The correct form to fill the blank is 'courts-martial' (or 'courts martial').
In formal English, compound nouns composed of a noun followed by an adjectival modifier (such as court-martial, attorney-general, or passer-by) form their plurals by inflecting the principal noun. Since 'court' is the head noun modified by the adjective 'martial', the plural marker attaches to 'court', yielding 'courts-martial'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the headword of the compound noun structure.
In the compound noun 'court-martial', 'court' is the principal noun (headword) and 'martial' is a post-positive adjective acting as a modifier.
Plural inflection in English compound nouns attaches to the principal noun head, not to post-modifying adjectives.
2
Apply the pluralization rule to the head noun.
Pluralizing 'court' yields 'courts', resulting in 'courts-martial'.
The quantifier 'two' requires a plural noun phrase.

Key Concept

Pluralization of Compound Nouns with Post-positive Adjectives
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Topics

Nouns and Noun Phrases

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