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Latest post Tue, Feb 1 2005 4:55 PM by julielai. 2 replies.
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julielai  +  71538 Tue, 01 Feb 05 04:55 PM
I've often heard "attorney generals", but then I came across "attorneys general" in a legal document.

Does it mean the latter is more formal?

Just curious.

Joined on Sun, Oct 24 2004
Planet earth
Senior Member 4,130
Just another blogger (http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/julie-lai)
paco2004  +  71558 Tue, 01 Feb 05 06:56 PM
The American Heritage Dictionary and the Merriam Webster say the plural for "attorney general" can be either "attorneys general" or "attorney generals". The Oxford English Dictionary says "attorney generals" is better because the OED editors take the word (phrase?) as ""attorney-general". When you google them limiting the domain to "gov" (US governmental sites), you will hit 42000 sites for "attorneys general" and 7000 sites for "attorney generals". When you google them limiting the domain to "uk" (British sites), you will hit 3500 sites for "attorneys general" and 1400 sites for "attorney generals".

paco
Joined on Wed, Nov 17 2004
Senior Member 4,095
In Japan today even dogs are learning how to bow-wow in English.
julielai  +  71560 Tue, 01 Feb 05 07:05 PM
Arigato, Paco san.

XING

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