Master confusing words with ease
Mother-in-laws vs. Mothers-in-law
Mother-in-laws
/ˈmʌðər ɪn lɔz/Examples:
Many mother-in-laws form key bonds in family dynamics.Mother-in-laws can offer valuable advice from experience.I often turn to mother-in-laws for traditional recipes.
Synonyms:
This word has no synonymsAntonyms:
Mothers-in-law
/ˈmʌðərz ɪn lɔː/Examples:
My mothers-in-law got along famously at the family reunion.She borrowed her mothers-in-law's recipe for the holiday cake.Both mothers-in-law offered us valuable parenting advice.
Synonyms:
This word has no synonymsAntonyms:
Ways to tell them apart:
- "Mother-in-laws" mistakenly applies regular pluralization rules to the compound noun, whereas the plural of mother should be instead applied to mother, not in-law.
- Remember mothers-in-law by splitting it up mentally: you have multiple mothers, each connected by marriage (in-law).
- Think of mothers-in-law by comparing it to passed-in-laws, which also correctly places the s after passed, not in-laws.
- Consider mothers-in-law like brothers-in-law—both treat brothers and mothers as the pluralized noun, rather than in-laws.
- The error with mother-in-laws comes from treating the whole phrase mother-in-law as a single unit, rather than applying pluralization to the actual subject, mothers.
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