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Difficulty: MediumNouns and Noun Phrases

Complete the sentence below by providing the correct plural form of the foreign noun in brackets.

Answer:The academic committee spent several hours reviewing the multiple 【criteria】 used to select candidates for the fellowship.

Answer

criteria
The word 'criterion' is a noun of Greek origin. In formal English grammatical usage, nouns ending in '-on' borrowed from Greek form their plural by replacing '-on' with '-a'. Because the modifier 'multiple' requires a plural noun head, 'criteria' is the grammatically correct completion.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the singular loan noun of Greek origin requiring pluralization.
The noun base is 'criterion' (singular).
The sentence refers to 'multiple' items, which necessitates the plural form of the noun.
2
Apply the Latin/Greek loan noun pluralization rule.
The singular ending '-on' changes to '-a', producing 'criteria'.
Nouns of Greek origin ending in '-on' typically form their plural by replacing '-on' with '-a'.

Key Concept

Foreign Plurals of Greek Nouns
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Topics

Nouns and Noun Phrases

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