Uncertain plural

An uncertain plural occurs when a writer does not know in advance whether a word should be written in the singular or plural. For English nouns, this may be demonstrated by enclosing the trailing plural letters in parentheses or slashes, such as "is/are", "fix/es", "book(s)", "answer/s" or "child(ren)".^[1][2]

In the case of articles, "they" or "their" may be used to include a single individual, when uncertain.

See also

• Singular they
• Gender-neutral pronoun