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MUSCOVITE Posted 14 years ago
Vocabulary

fellow alumni

Hi,

I have got a few questions about the term fellow alumnus and its plural forms. If you could answer them?

(1) Suppose that Bob and Nick are fellow alumni. What does it mean?
(A) They graduated from the same college (school, university) in the same year?
(B) They graduated from the same department (faculty) in the same year?
(C) They graduated from the same chair (of the same faculty) in the same year?

(2) What is the plural of alumna? Is it alumnae? Or can it be either alumnae or alumni?

Hope these questions make sense...

Thank you!

mus-te
  

Top answer

(1) Suppose that Bob and Nick are fellow alumni. What does it mean? (C) They graduated from the same chair (of the same faculty) in the same year?

— Shawn79

  • (1) Suppose that Bob and Nick are fellow alumni.
  • What does it mean?
  • (C) They graduated from the same chair (of the same faculty) in the same year?
  • The answer is ( A ).
  • From Collins Dictionary: " alumni n.
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11 Answers
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MUSCOVITEIf you could answer them?(1) Suppose that Bob and Nick are fellow alumni. What does it mean? They graduated from the same college (school, university) in the same year?(B) They graduated from the same department (faculty) in the same year?(C) They graduated from the same chair (of the same faculty) in the same year?
The answer is ( A ). From
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Perfect answer. You just forgot to correct "in the same year" in the answer (A).
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chiachenPerfect answer. You just forgot to correct "in the same year" in the answer .
Ah, good point! So none of the answers are correct.
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Shawn79Often people use the plural form alumni as a substitute for all the other forms, even when referring to just one person of either ***, as seen in the above definition ("a graduate").
It is a very interesting point for English learners like me... Thank you!
I just made some simple googling ... and indeed "He is a Harvard alumni" is found more often t
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You can't use "alumni" in the singular. You also can't determine good English with a Google search; in fact; Google is usually wrong, in my experience. You must observe the correct plurals for all Latin words in English, except "data" and "media", which have become more fully English than the others.

You can still find people who insist that "data" is always plural and that "datum" must a
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After some simple googling, you'd get this already: Use “alumna” for a woman. Use “alumnae” for a group of women. Use “alumnus” for a man. Use “alumni” for a group of men or for a group of men and women. Never call an individual “an alumni” of a school, college, or university.
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Hi,

John is an Oxford alumnus.

A small and tangential point about this example.

In recent years, Oxford has adopted this terminology, particularly in fund-raising activities,
But the tradit
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chiachenNever call an individual “an alumni” of a school, college, or university.
People do. It's incredibly common, but plain wrong. If you do, you'll be embarrassing your "alma mater". From Wikipedia:

"Alumni" (a plural form) is often incorrectly used as a singular form for both gender
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Clive,
Thanks for the interesting piece of information.
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Dear English Teachers,

First and formost, thank you all for your comments on my 'fellow alumni' post!

(1) I notice the warning/disclaimer "This question has no verified answers" ( right under the 'fellow alumni' title).

Could somebody comment on this disclaimer?
(a) What learner questions deserve to be given "verified answers"?
(b) Who are au
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