Did you ever find yourself in a situation where you had to use plurals for yes or no? Ever wondered what the answer was? Or if you got it right? There is a lot of confusion about the right form of plurals for the two words. And it is understandable, as there are several words that you can use to polarize yes and no.
There are nos and noes; and yeses and yesses. So which one is correct? Or are all of them right And have you ever come across no’s and yes’s? Are they just variations of the plural form, and are they even correct? Even if they are used extensively, apostrophes are not the right way to pluralize a word. So, are you still confused about what is the plural of “no” and “yes”? We have your answer here.
What Is the Plural of “No” and “Yes”?
Here are details about the most common plural forms of no and yes, and some non-acceptable versions.
Plurals of “No”
Pluralization of no can be a bit complicated. People get confused about whether the regular grammatical concept of pluralization will apply. But there are a bunch of options for the plural form of no.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the two correct plurals for no are nos and noes. They are interchangeable and used in places to describe more than one negative response. However, other plural forms are used as well.
1. Nos
It is the most commonly used plural of no. It follows the general rule of adding an “s” to a word to build its plural form.
Example:
Some nos for the party are alcohol and cigarettes.
For every yes, we get a hundred nos.
The world has more nos than yeses.
However, nos is also used as a short for numbers. For example, the same applies to nos 17, 19, and 23.
While nos is the most acceptable plural for no, some other plurals can be used as well.
2. Noes
It is a more common word in older English and is not very common now, however, it is still applicable and can be used. Adding an “es” to a word ending with “o” is one of the correct methods.
However, it is often confused as a misspelling for “nose”. So it is considered unwieldy and has fallen out of use.
So, although technically correct, noes are not recommended.
Examples:
She heard a hundred noes before the final yes.
There was a chorus of noes and yeses.
Both candidates replied with noes to almost all questions.
Using Nos and Noes Interchangeably
Some nos for the party are alcohol and cigarettes.
Some noes for the party are alcohol and cigarettes.
Both candidates replied with nos to almost all questions.
Both candidates replied with noes to almost all questions.
3. No’s
Apostrophes must “never” be used to make a plural form of a word. So this form is essentially incorrect. However, you may still find no’s being used, like in the Apple marketing campaign.
Example:
Embracing a thousand no’s for every yes; the sentence used in Apple’s campaign.
Plurals of Yes
According to Merriam Webster dictionary, yes has two correct plurals—yeses, and yesses. But have you ever read “yes’s” as a plural? Read to learn more about the plurals of yes.
1. Yeses
Yeses is the more common plural of yes. You get yeses from the general rule of adding “es” to a word ending with “s”.
Example:
We received a hundred “yeses” for every no.
The vote got eighteen yeses.
All candidates replied with yeses.
2. Yesses
Yesses is also a correct way of pluralizing yes. However, it is used less commonly than yeses.
Example:
Just three yesses, and things were becoming a reality.
For every no, we are getting a hundred yesses.
There are 8 yesses and 2 nos.
Using Yeses and Yesses Interchangeably
The vote got eighteen yeses.
The vote got eighteen yesses.
Just three yeses and things were becoming a reality.
Just three yesses and things were becoming a reality.
3. Yes’s
As mentioned above, using an apostrophe for pluralization is incorrect. However, this form is mostly only found online, and people insist that the apostrophe takes the place of “e” in yeses.
The Grocer’s Apostrophe
As seen, apostrophes are being used for the pluralization of words. Although incorrect, it is not uncommon. It is such a common mistake that it has also earned the name “Grocer’s Apostrophe”. But why grocers?
Because while now it is seen in online chats and comments, earlier, the mistake was commonly found on handwritten shop signs. For example, get your fresh mango’s here. As a result, the mistake was termed grocer’s apostrophe.
