“General” here, though, is an adjective, not a noun; you can think of them as “general attorneys.” So the plural goes on the noun, and the proper form is “attorneys general.”Mar 21, 2016
In American English, attorneys general is the correct plural form. The British prefer attorney-generals (the Brits have long hyphenated the phrase).
The term was originally used to refer to any person who holds a general power of attorney to represent a principal in all matters. In the common law tradition, anyone who represents the state, especially in criminal prosecutions, is such an attorney.
When using a compound term like "attorney general," make the plural with the noun. Thus, more than one "attorney general" is a group of "attorneys general," not "attorney generals" (they're not in the military) and certainly not "attorney general's" (no apostrophes in plurals, remember).
noun. at·tor·ney | \ ə-ˈtər-nē \ plural attorneys.
noun, plural (especially collectively) trout, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) trouts. any of several game fishes of the genus Salmo, related to the salmon.
California Former Attorneys GeneralMatthew Rodriguez2021 – 2021John K. Van de Kamp1983 – 1991George Deukemejian1979 – 1983Evelle J. Younger1971 – 1979Thomas C. Lynch1964 – 197129 more rows
Alberto GonzalesOfficial portrait, 200580th United States Attorney GeneralIn office February 3, 2005 – September 17, 2007PresidentGeorge W. Bush31 more rows
In layman terms, Chief Justice is a Judge and Attorney General is a Lawyer, both have distinct roles to play. The Attorney General of India is the highest law officer of the country and he/she is the chief legal advisor to the GoI. He is responsible to assist the government in all its legal matters.Feb 20, 2020
Noun. power of attorney (countable and uncountable, plural powers of attorney)
The plural of proper nouns is generally formed regularly. It is proper, however, to say the Miss Browns, or the Misses Brown.
secretary. noun. sec·re·tary | \ ˈse-krə-ˌter-ē \ plural secretaries.
In the phrase attorney general , attorney is the main part, and the word general is descriptive—it tells us what kind of attorney we have to deal with.
The Atlantic has had 14 editors in chief. Congratulations to all those news writers who have been getting the plural right recently. Note: In British English, attorney-generals is also acceptable according to Garner’s Modern English Usage .
Mignon Fogarty is the founder of Quick and Dirty Tips and the author of seven books on language, including the New York Times bestseller " Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing .".
Bupkis came to English through Yiddish and means nothing or something of no worth, but its intermediate meaning will make you laugh. In the phrase attorney general, attorney is the main part, and the word general is descriptive—it tells us what kind of attorney we have to deal with.
If you’re talking about an “attorney general,” a specific type of attorney, the plural form is “attorneys general” in the US and “attorney-generals” in the UK.
Attornies or Attorneys: Which is correct? The correct plural spelling of “attorney” is “attorneys.”. Because of the vowel before the final letter, this word doesn’t follow the rule of “-y” words turning to “-ies” when pluralized. If you’re talking about an “attorney general,” a specific type of attorney, the plural form is “attorneys general” in ...
To make that clear, the word “flowerpot” becomes “flowerpots” because there is in fact more than one pot. The number of flowers is irrelevant, which is why it’s not “flowerspot.”. With compound nouns where the adjective comes second, this fact is reversed.
The plural of “attorney”: A Legally Nonbinding Resolution. When it comes to plural words, some languages have it easy. In Japanese, for instance, you simply use the exact same word, with no spelling change required. English sometimes has plurals that are the same as the singular form (deer and deer, for instance), ...
The word “attorney general” is a compound noun. More specifically, it’s a compound noun that’s made of up of a noun and an adjective. The word “general” isn’t like the rank in the military, in other words, but an adjective describing the attorney’s duties as “general,” or non-specialized ones. When pluralizing this kind ...
That means we need to follow the rule described above and say “attorneys general.”. In the UK, however, the word is a closed compound, so it’s always hyphenated. That means it should be treated as a regular noun, and the plural in the UK becomes “attorney-generals.”.
English sometimes has plurals that are the same as the singular form (deer and deer, for instance), but more often than not it’s a perplexing task to figure out how to spell the plural of a particular word. That’s because some words have irregular plural spellings. One of those words is “attorney.”.
Like a lieutenant general or a brigadier general, a major general is a class of general, so it's general that takes the plural. "The four will be commissioned as Army major generals for an approximate two-year term while serving intermittently in this role.". - Oxford Online.
When we say “general” in “attorney general,” “surgeon general,” and “postmater general,” it is not meant as a rank as in the military sense, and it is not even a noun. It is an adjective meaning “chief or principal.”. It is the same sense as in “general manger.”.
It's a compound noun where the second word is basically an adjective that describes the preceding noun, or "head.". In this case, "general" describes "attorney.". Ah, the joy of head-first compound nouns. A regular compound noun - "military funeral," for instance - has the head at the end.
One way to see it is that a sergeant-major is a type or grade of sergeant, whereas lieutenant-general is a type of grade of general. The main nouns are sergeant and general respectively, so they take the plural, not the classifying word. Warsaw Will Nov-11-2011. 4 votes Permalink Report Abuse.
However - right now 'attorney general' is a noun in and of itself. Therefore attorney generals is fine - and we don't need permission to use it - we can just use it. Of course you can use it. However the unfortunate fact is that common usage does not always mean correct usage.
It's easiest to see when you compare a major general and a sergeant major. The first is a kind of general (not a kind of major) and so it's general that is pluralised. The latter is a type of sergeant (also not a kind of major), so it's sergeant that takes the plural s. Major generals, but sergeants major.
The adjective comes before noun ... brigadier general, major general, lieutenant general ... thus brigadier generals, major generals, lieutenant generals. General is the noun, not the adjective, in the military rank. Whereas in attorney general, it is the adjective. To add to AnWulf ... nor in the British army.