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What is the plural of the word 'Ox'?
A. Oxes
B. Oxen
C. Oxs
D. Oxi
Correct Answer Is Option = Oxen
Notes / Explanation
The plural of the word ox is oxen, and this is a good example of one of the more unusual kinds of irregular plurals found in the English language, a topic that is important for anyone preparing for the English sections of competitive examinations. In English, most nouns form their plural in a regular way, usually by adding a standard ending to the singular form, so that one book becomes two books and one house becomes several houses. A number of common words, however, do not follow this regular pattern, and among these irregular nouns the word ox is particularly unusual, because it forms its plural by adding a special ending that is rarely used for this purpose, so that the single form ox becomes the plural form oxen. This ending, which is used to form the plural in this case, is one of the old ways of making plurals in the English language that has survived in only a very small number of words, and ox is one of the clearest examples. An ox is a large, strong animal of the cattle family that has long been used by people for heavy work such as pulling ploughs and carts, and because such animals were often kept and worked in groups, the plural form oxen has remained a familiar word. There are only a few other words in English that form their plural in this same unusual way, and they must simply be learnt as they are, since the pattern cannot be worked out by applying the ordinary rules. English contains several different kinds of irregular plurals, including words that change their vowels, such as foot becoming feet and tooth becoming teeth, words that change in other ways, such as child becoming children and man becoming men, and words that remain unchanged in the plural, such as sheep and deer, in addition to unusual cases like ox becoming oxen. Because these irregular plurals do not follow the regular rule, they must be memorised individually, and a common mistake is to apply the regular pattern and produce an incorrect form. For PPSC and other competitive examinations, the key points to remember are that the plural of ox is oxen, that this is an unusual irregular plural formed by adding a special old ending, that only a few English words form their plurals in this way, and that irregular plurals must be learnt individually because they do not follow the regular rule.
