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O.ABOOTTY Posted 14 years ago
Vocabulary

WOMAN FRIEND

I would like to know whether the plural woman friends is used in America. I have already learnt from British books that the plural of woman friend is women friends. But the American grammar book A GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE by George O. Curme (Volume II) woman friends as the plural of woman friend (page 550) while he gives women students, women doctors, women servants, women clerks as the plural of woman student, woman doctor, woman servant, woman clerk respectively. So I doubt whether his woman friends is a printing mistake. I would like to get an explanation from an American.
  

Top answer

Since 'man' and 'woman' are exceptions to the usual way of forming these plurals (car seats, shoe stores), I would expect to hear 'woman friends' and 'man friends' along with 'girl friends' and 'boy friends', so they do not sound particularly strange to me. COCA produces a few examples: —Taylor says that as she has aged, she has developed a network of woman friends who help her cope with getting older. —If you're a black person, I find myself sometimes with other black woman friends , you know, putting down white women as if they are another species —convey to my friend when I said, in the playfully joshing manner that man friends tend to use with one another, " You mocked the French press —?

— Mister Micawber

  • Since 'man' and 'woman' are exceptions to the usual way of forming these plurals (car seats, shoe stores), I would expect to hear 'woman friends' and 'man friends' along with 'girl friends' and 'boy friends', so they do not sound particularly strange to me.
  • COCA produces a few examples: —Taylor says that as she has aged, she has developed a network of woman friends who help her cope with getting older.
  • —If you're a black person, I find myself sometimes with other black woman friends , you know, putting down white women as if they are another species —convey to my friend when I said, in the playfully joshing manner that man friends tend to use with one another, " You mocked the French press —?
  • Or maybe it was nerves.
  • One of Mother's man friends , Mr.
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1 Answers
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Since 'man' and 'woman' are exceptions to the usual way of forming these plurals (car seats, shoe stores), I would expect to hear 'woman friends' and 'man friends' along with 'girl friends' and 'boy friends', so they do not sound particularly strange to me. COCA produces a few examples:

—Taylor says that as she has aged, she has developed a network of woman friends
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