Careful; you've just rubbished a very expensive education.
William Case wrote:
Hi;
I think this discussion about the use of 'formulas' or 'formulae' is a
great example of the subtleties and nuances in the use of English.
The usage seems to be the following:
'formulas' when used as a non emphasized word is the correct plural.
The word formulae draws attention to itself; and is best used when used
formally as in a lesson or when formula (plural) are the main or
emphasized idea in a sentence.
English has long had an adulterous relationship with Latin -- borrowing
and stealing wherever it could. Whenever English is pretending that a
Latin derived word is an English word such as in normal conversation, it
uses English grammar rules. When an English speaker wants to say
something more formally, particularly as the main point of conversation,
the speaker can (equally as correctly) revert to Latin usage.
Without putting too fine a point on it, the original OP's statement "I'm
trying formulae for the first time and I can't get them to run" rang a
little funny because the main concept in his sentence was about "trying"
and all he needed was "formulas" which would have just been a simple
plural noun.
In short, to my ear, English Grammar versus Latin Grammar depends on
context and the subtleties within the meaning that someone is trying to
convey.
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