5

What is the plural for the Book of Mormon? “Books of Mormon” would be changing the title of the book. “Book of Mormon's” Would be possessive, and “Book of Mormons” sounds like it was as if it was a book of “Mormons”.

Spanky
  • 61
  • 2
    What is the plural of the Queen of England, the Son of God, or the Birth of the Universe? – tchrist May 07 '14 at 21:20
  • @tchrist It's a good point, +1, but there have been multiple Queens of England (just not simultaneously). – WendiKidd May 07 '14 at 21:31
  • @WendiKidd Oh I dunno: I spent most of my live with there being two Queens Elizabeth there. – tchrist May 07 '14 at 21:36
  • @tchrist: I understand some cosmologists say there have been many universes born, and I see no reason why the grammar of their births should differ from the number of births in a region; there have certainly been many queens of England. If your point is that unique descriptors can have no plural then 1) it could have been clearer and 2) though I agree, not everybody does: http://english.stackexchange.com/q/18989/8019. – Tim Lymington May 07 '14 at 21:40
  • 1
    I'd say that 'the Book of Mormon' is non-count, whereas 'Bible' does dual duty: 'It's in the Bible' / 'I need to buy a new Bible.' So: one copy / several copies of the Book of Mormon. – Edwin Ashworth May 07 '14 at 22:03
  • 1
    This is an intriguing question, but why would it be different than referencing the plural of other books? Wouldn't you say, "I picked up five copies of Title Of Your Choice to give away as gifts."? – Mike May 07 '14 at 23:00
  • @Mike It's common enough to hear people say 'I have 5 bibles' - I assume it's a matter of having transcended a title to become a noun. – Latty May 07 '14 at 23:14
  • @Lattyware I agree, but I think when we say that we are not referring to the title. I believe When referring to multiple copies, they don't use the title. My Mormon grandmother refers to them merely as her scriptures, and she has extra copies at home, but I've never heard her refer to them by the full title. Likewise, I can't recall hearing anyone say, 'I have 5 Holy Bibles at home'. – Mike May 08 '14 at 01:37
  • Is this example different from lots of other multi-word titles? Would you request two Journey to the Center of the Earths, or two Journeys to the Center of the Earth? Three Two Gentlemen of Veronas or Four Three Musketeerses? It seems like lots of titles sound weird in that setting and would lead you to refer to copies instead. – Chaim Nov 10 '17 at 18:14

3 Answers3

6

Consider saying "copies of Book of Mormon" instead.

Elian
  • 43,007
2

With such ambiguity, changing the sentence structure would be wise. I would say “copies of the Book of Mormon”.

Phrog
  • 107
  • 1
    "Technically correct" according to which particular arbiter of technical correctness? (and what does that guru mean by "technical"?) – Colin Fine May 07 '14 at 22:23
1

Copies of the Book of Mormon. People generally avoid saying it in the plural, though, so I'll usually hear people say "would you like a Book of Mormon?" or "everyone get out their Book of Mormon". Sometimes, when it is necessary to talk about it in the plural, people slip up and say "Book of Mormons". But I've never heard anyone say "books of Mormon". "Copies of the Book of Mormon" is the correct way, even though people say it wrong sometimes. In the end it's not a big deal, people know what you're talking about.

AMormonGuy
  • 11