By default, the plurals option is active for Design Search Code Manual [DSCM] searches. If the plurals option is selected, the DSCM keyword search will automatically search for the singular, plural and possessive forms of your search term, whether you enter the singular or the plural form for your keyword search. A search for DOG and a search for DOGS will return the same hits when you have the plural box checked. The use of any form of truncation or pattern matching in combination with the plurals feature is not recommended.

A search for FIREMAN with the plurals function turned on will return results containing both the singular, plural and possessive forms of FIREMAN occurring in the DSCM, including firemen and fireman's hats.

Caution! The plurals option does not work with pattern matching. This is a limitation of the search engine.

Caution! Right truncation should not be used with the plurals option. For example, the search MOUSE$ with the plurals option selected might be expected to retrieve sections containing the word MICE, the search engine literally checks for the word ending MOUSE$ in the plurals table and fails to recognize MICE as the plural of MOUSE, as there is not an entry in the plurals table for MOUSE$.

Generally, left truncation can be used with the plurals option. For example, the search *MOUSE with the plurals option selected does retrieve sections containing MICE.

Plurals Table

For most searches, selecting the plurals option will provide the desired singular and plural forms for your search. Note that the plurals option work both ways, converting singular search terms to plurals and plural search terms to the singular form for the actual search. If you have doubts about the substitutions being performed for your search, turn the plurals option off and specify the explicit search terms you wish to retrieve.

The DSCM search engine employs an exception table to create the singular and plural forms of search words. If the word is not in exception table, an S is appended to the word to form its plural. For example, the plural form of BANANA is BANANAS.

The exception table provides the substitutions that are used to form the plural form or multiple plural forms for select words. The bulk of the entries include a word ending and the list of one or more alternative endings that are substituted to form the plural forms. For example, the plural forms of words ending in Y are provided by the following entry.

Y IES YS

The above entry means that for any word ending in Y, two plural forms are created by substituting IES and YS for Y. The plural forms for LADY are LADYS and LADIES.

When forming the plural forms for a word, the exception table is searched in order. Once a word match is found, then the substitutions specified in that word are performed and searching stops. For example, although BOY ends in Y, the entry OY precedes Y in the table, so the plural form of BOY is BOYS. The substitution IES is not performed for the Y in boy, so BOIES is not a plural form BOY.

An alternative format used in the exception table is for entries beginning with the equal sign (=), which indicates an exact match of the full word must occur for the substitution to be performed. An example of such an entry follows.

=OCTOPUS =OCTOPUSES =OCTOPI

The plural forms of OCTOPUS are OCTOPUSES and OCTOPI, but OCTOPUS is not considered to be a word ending for such substitutions. There are very few uses of this format in the exception table, so there is little likelihood of encountering these exceptions during your searches. If you have doubts about the substitutions being performed for your search, turn the plurals option off and specify the explicit search terms you wish to retrieve.

If an entry in exception table begins with a plus sign (+) then the DSCM search engine substitutes for the word following the plus sign with all the alternative entries included on the line.

Each line represents the various forms of a given word ending. If the end of an input term matches any of the strings given on a line, then that is expanded to the beginning part of the input term (less the matched ending), plus each of the endings given on that exception line.

ORDER COUNTS! These exceptions will be tested for in the order in which they are defined in this table. Once a matching ending is found, the table lookup stops.

AMOEBA        AMOEBAE       AMOEBAS
AMEBA         AMEBAE        AMEBAS
CHILD         CHILDS        CHILDREN      CHILDRENS
INDEX         INDEXES       INDICES
HUMAN         HUMANS
MAN           MEN           MENS          MANS
AY            AYS
MONEY         MONEYS        MONIES
EY            EYS
IY            IYS
INDIA         INDIAS
INDIUM        INDIUMS
IUM           IUMS          IA            IAS
OY            OYS
UY            UYS
Y             IES           YS
SH            SHES
ACHE          ACHES
CH            CHES          CHS
J             JES           JS
GENUS         GENERA        GENUSES
ANALYSIS      +ANALYSES
+ANALYSE      ANALYSES      +ANALYSIS
=ROSE         =ROSES
ROSIS         ROSES
=NOSE         =NOSES
NOSIS         NOSES
BASIS         BASE          BASES
CRISIS        CRISES
GENESIS       GENESES
OASIS         OASES
OSMOSIS       OSMOSES
ABUSE         ABUSES
BUS           BUSES         BUSSES
SS            SSES
GOOSE         GOOSES        GEESE
LOUSE         LOUSES        LICE
MOUSE         MOUSES        MICE
ALUMNA        ALUMNAE       ALUMNAS       ALUMNAES
FORMULA       FORMULAE      FORMULAS
NUCLEUS       NUCLEI        NUCLEUSES
ALUMNUS       ALUMNI        ALUMNIS
FUNGUS        FUNGI         FUNGUSES
THESAURUS     THESAURI      THESAURUSES
CACTUS        CACTI         CACTUSES
RADIUS        RADII         RADIUSES
=OCTOPUS      =OCTOPUSES    =OCTOPI
THESIS        THESES
SE            SES
YNX           YNGES         YNXES
IX            ICES          IXES          IXS
=OX           =OXEN         =OXES
X             XES           XS
Z             +ZES          ZS
AO            AOS
EO            EOS
IO            IOS
OO            OOS
UO            UOS
=CANOE        =CANOES
=DOE          +DOES
=DO           +DOES
=DOES         +DOE          +DO
=HOE          =HOES
=FLOE         =FLOES
=FOE          =FOES
=OBOE         =OBOES
=ROE          =ROES
=SHOE         =SHOES
=TOE          =TOES
=TO           +TO
O             OES           OS            OE
FOOT          FEET
TOOTH         TEETH
PERSON        PERSONS       PEOPLE        PEOPLES
DATUM         DATA
STAFF         STAFFS        STAVES
=DWARF        =DWARFS       =DWARVES
FF            FFS
BELIEF        BELIEFS       BELIEVES
CALF          CALFS         CALVES
ELF           ELFS          ELVES
GRIEF         GRIEFS        GRIEVES
HALF          HALFS         HALVES
HOOF          HOOFS         HOOVES
KERCHIEF      KERCHIEFS     KERCHIEVES
KNIFE         KNIFES        KNIVES
LEAF          LEAFS         LEAVES
LIFE          LIFES         LIVE          LIVES
LOAF          LOAVES
ROOF          ROOFS         ROOVES
SCARF         SCARFS        SCARVES
SELF          SELFS         SELVES
SHEAF         SHEAF         SHEAVES
SHELF         SHELFS        SHELVES
THIEF         THIEFS        THIEVES
WHARF         WHARFS        WHARVES
WIFE          WIFES         WIVES
WOLF          WOLFS         WOLVES

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