2

Which form is correct in the following sentence?

  • Greek sigmas have a different form at the end of words?

  • Greek sigmas have a different form at the ends of words?

Nonnal
  • 4,182
Toothrot
  • 1,062
  • 4
    He isn't asking if they do or not, he is asking which of the two sentences he gave is correct English. –  Nov 13 '15 at 18:01
  • Lawrence, I've reworded your question to help make it clearer and address @Hellion's question. Let me know if that wasn't the desired intent. My answer below is based on my interpretation of your intended question. – Nonnal Nov 13 '15 at 18:04
  • 2
    Greek sigmas have a different form when at the end of a word. – Hot Licks Dec 14 '15 at 02:48
  • Or "The Greek letter sigma has a different orthographic form when it appears at the end of a word than it has when it appears anywhere else in a word." – Sven Yargs Dec 14 '15 at 07:42
  • Why use plural at all? Greek sigma has a different form at the end of a word. – John Lawler Mar 19 '23 at 17:04

1 Answers1

0

Incrementally simplify your sentence to figure it out:

Greek sigmas have a different form at the ___ of words.

Sigmas have a form at the ___ of words.

So now you have:

[plural noun] have a [singular noun] at the ___ of [plural noun].

If all of the words share a single end, then the correct phrase is:

...at the end of words.

But if each word has its own end, then the correct phrase is:

...at the ends of words.

Since each word does have its own end, the second form is correct, and your sentence should read:

Greek sigmas have a different form at the ends of words.

However, I would personally suggest rewording for clarity:

Greek sigmas have a different form at the end of a word.

...which removes the ambiguous issue altogether. :-)

Community
  • 1
Nonnal
  • 4,182
  • I disagree that "at the end of words" necessarily implies that words share a single end. You could think of "at the end" as an adverb, like "at the left". So I think both versions are correct. – Armen Ծիրունյան Nov 13 '15 at 18:07
  • 3
    I think there's too much "logic" and not enough "natural use of language" in this answer. And by that (misplaced) logic it seems to me, Prefixes are morphemes appearing at the fronts* of words* would be "correct". But in practice nobody would say it like that. – FumbleFingers Nov 13 '15 at 18:09
  • 1
    A quick ngrams search reveals that both versions have been used in similar contexts, "at the end of words" slightly more often. – Armen Ծիրունյան Nov 13 '15 at 18:10
  • I am more than willing to concede the point that "end of words" sounds better, and that it is used more. Happy to revise my answer based on these sound points. But I wonder what makes it "better"? In other words, without relying on my "too much logic" answer, why does "end of words" sound better and why is it used more frequently. – Nonnal Nov 13 '15 at 18:19
  • 'Your sentence should read ...' means that you are, in your answer, discounting the fact that 'I am more than willing to concede the point that "end of words" sounds better, and that it is used more'. Without supporting evidence, this is subjective. The fact is that the distributive singular is often used, as is the distributive singular. In this particular example, with 4 nouns, agreement rapidly becomes messy. I'd use 'The Greek [letter] sigma has a different [orthographic] form when it occurs at the end of a word.' – Edwin Ashworth Jul 27 '21 at 10:50
  • Does a word have one end, or two ends? "End" is ambiguous as to whether it can include the start. To my ear, "end of words" is more natural if you mean only the final part, and not the first and final parts. – Stuart F Nov 24 '21 at 17:35