thesis plural or singular

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Is thesis plural

Thesis is plural singular plural singular both plural and singular plural both plural and singular both plural and singular singular .

The plural singular plural singular singular singular plural plural plural of thesis is theses .

How to say thesis: How to pronounce thesis

How to say theses: How to pronounce theses

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1.  What makes words plural? 2.  What makes a word singular? 3.  How to make acronyms plural.

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The Plural Forms of Words

What are the plural forms of words.

Forming the Plurals of Nouns

• 1 dog > 2 dogs
• 1 house > 2 houses
• 1 video > 2 videos
• How to form the plurals of nouns (spelling rules)
• How to form the plurals of compound nouns (e.g., mothers-in-law, Knights Templar)
• How to form the plurals of abbreviations (e.g., MOTs, L.R.S.s)

What Are the Plural Pronouns?

What Is the Plural Form of a Verb?

What Are Plural Demonstrative Determiners?

Forming the Plurals of Foreign Words

• stadium > stadia or stadiums
• datum > data
• radius > radii or radiuses
• agendum > agenda

"Plural" Also Applies to Zero

• 0 dogs (plural)
• 1 dog (singular)
• 2 dogs (plural)
• 3 dogs (plural)
• There are no alligators in the lake.

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PhD Theses Grammar – Nouns & Words Both, Either, Neither, Nor & Only

Posted by Rene Tetzner | Oct 30, 2021 | PhD Success | 0 |

5.4.3 Nouns and Agreement

The use of most English nouns is relatively straightforward, but spelling and word choice can sometimes be an issue if English is not your native language. It is usually quite easy to deal with such problems through careful and critical proofreading, especially with the assistance of the spell-checking function of your word-processing program, which in most cases will highlight obvious errors (though it should not be trusted to discover them all). If a word is underlined or otherwise highlighted by the program, check the spelling and correct it if necessary; if spelling is not the problem, it is likely that you have chosen the wrong or an inappropriate word (perhaps you used ‘content’ for ‘context,’ for example, ‘implementation’ for ‘intervention’ and so on), in which case you will need to use a dictionary or perhaps a thesaurus to find the correct or a more appropriate word. Watch for nouns that are too vague to express your exact meaning to all readers: ‘in this context,’ ‘in our area’ and ‘in local universities’ are classic examples of instances in which you and your thesis committee will know what you are talking about, but other readers (especially those from other contexts and areas) cannot unless the context or area you are working in or the location of those universities is specified wherever necessary for absolute clarity (specific language is also best for dates: see Section 6.4.4). Conversely, your language should not be so specific to one country or region that its meaning will not be fully understood by international readers: currency and educational systems are good examples of topics for which you should provide not only specific information relevant to the original locality, but also careful enough explanations of the specifics to make them clear to readers who are not familiar with that locality and its culture.

Agreement should always be maintained between nouns and the verbs used with them, which in most cases is easily established: singular nouns should be used with the singular forms of verbs (‘the doctoral candidate investigates,’ ‘the brush untangles’ and ‘the child plays’) and plural nouns with the plural forms of verbs (‘the doctoral candidates investigate,’ ‘the brushes untangle’ and ‘the children play’). If you want your language to suggest the possibility of both singular and plural situations simultaneously, for most nouns you can enclose the ‘s’ or ‘es’ of the plural form in parentheses – ‘the methodology chapter(s)’ – in which case the verb form should be governed by the singular noun because the plural is technically parenthetical: for example, ‘the methodology chapter(s) describes the research methods used in the thesis.’ Another (and often preferable) solution is to word the text in such a way that the verb works for both the singular and plural forms of the noun: ‘the methodology chapter(s) should describe the research methods used in the thesis.’ With plural nouns formed through the addition of endings other that ‘s’ or ‘es,’ the same strategy can be used – ‘the child(ren) will be going to a party this afternoon’ – but with nouns that change their stems to form the plural (such as ‘man’ that becomes ‘men’ and ‘woman’ that becomes ‘women’), effective constructions can be complicated and confusing for readers, and are generally best avoided.

There are certain nouns in the English language that present special challenges when it comes to agreement. Plural nouns that seem like singular nouns (‘data,’ ‘media,’ ‘criteria’ etc.), for instance, should take a plural verb (‘the criteria required were,’ not ‘the criteria required was’), although ‘data’ can, alternatively, be used as a singular noun (‘the data were’ or ‘the data was’). This is to say that ‘data’ can be treated as a collective or group noun instead of as a normal plural noun, in which case the important point is to ensure that the noun is treated as a singular whenever it is used in a document. With collective nouns in general, it is essential that each noun is consistently treated as either a singular or a plural, ideally throughout a thesis and certainly within a single sentence, but this can be rather tricky because such nouns tend to be used as both singular and plural in casual conversation, so there is a tendency to be inconsistent: for example, in ‘The society was founded in 1995; since then, they have grown rapidly,’ ‘they have’ in the second part of the sentence should actually be ‘it has’ to agree with the singular ‘society’ and its verb ‘was’ in the first part. Also complicated is the fact that the decision to use a singular or plural verb with a collective noun can depend on whether the noun refers to the group as a unit (singular) or to its members as individuals (plural), and also on whether British or American English is used: in American English, when the group is considered as a unit, a singular verb is usually used (our hockey team is playing very poorly this year), but in British English, collective nouns tend to use plural verbs (our hockey team are playing very poorly this year). The collective nouns ‘couple’ and ‘pair’ are usually used as plurals when they refer to people – ‘The couple ride their bicycles to work’ – but collective nouns of quantity such as ‘number,’ ‘percentage’ and ‘proportion’ tend to take a singular verb when a definite article precedes the noun and a plural verb when an indefinite article precedes the noun (‘The proportion of customers with home phones is decreasing,’ but ‘A large proportion of customers are giving up their home phones in favour of mobile phones’).

5.4.4 Both, Either, Neither, Nor and Only

Certain other words, phrases and constructions can cause particular problems when constructing sentences, especially for authors whose native language is not English. ‘Both’ takes a plural verb (e.g., ‘both a pool and a water slide were added to the playground’), whereas ‘either’ and ‘neither’ take a singular verb (either a pool or a water slide is being added to the playground), and so does a ‘neither . . . nor’ construction (neither a pool nor a waterslide was added to the playground). Please note that ‘or’ should not be used instead of ‘nor’ in a ‘neither . . . nor’ construction.’ ‘Neither,’ ‘either’ and ‘both’ should be correctly positioned in a sentence to achieve balance and avoid repetition, so the phrasing should be ‘that affect neither him nor her,’ not ‘that neither affect him nor her,’ and ‘that affect both him and her,’ not ‘that both affect him and her.’ ‘Only’ can be placed where it sounds best in a sentence unless there is a possibility of ambiguity or confusion, in which case it should be carefully positioned to clarify the meaning: for example, ‘vegetable gardens only watered on Sundays’ could mean ‘only vegetable gardens are watered on Sundays’ or ‘vegetable gardens are watered on Sundays only’ or ‘vegetable gardens are watered, but not weeded, on Sundays’ (examples adapted from Butcher et al., 2006, p.164). It is therefore wise to consider all the placement and semantic options as you are writing such sentences and choose the one that most effectively expresses your intentions. ‘Only’ can also be problematic when used not to mean ‘exclusively,’ but to refer to a small number or percentage: ‘just 39%’ or ‘as small as 39%’ is more accurate than and preferable to ‘only 39%.’

5.4.5 Beginning Sentences Correctly and Avoiding Dangling Participles

The wording at the beginning of sentences should be both precise and complete in formal scholarly prose, and certain elements should not be used in that position. Numerals, for instance, should be avoided, so any number at the beginning of a sentence should be written out in words unless writing it out would be cumbersome (e.g., ‘237,482’ would be very unwieldy if written as words), in which case the sentence should be reworded to avoid using the number at its beginning (for information on formatting numbers, see Section 6.4 below). Certain abbreviations should also be avoided at the beginning of sentences, although acronyms and initialisms are usually acceptable (see Section 6.3.8 below). As a general rule, sentences should not begin with conjunctions such as ‘and,’ ‘or,’ ‘but’ and ‘so,’ although the occasional lapse in this regard, even in formal writing, is tolerated in most cases as long as the sentence does not begin a paragraph, the meaning is clear and the rhythm of the prose is effective. A sentence and especially a paragraph should not normally start with a pronoun such as ‘this,’ ‘that’ or ‘they’ even if the antecedent is clear from what has gone before, but particularly if the antecedent is at all ambiguous. Instead, the subject should be clearly stated as a noun or noun phrase to avoid confusion, but the pronoun ‘I’ (as well as ‘we’ in texts with more than one author) is acceptable at the beginning of a sentence or paragraph because there can be no doubt, if the pronoun is used only when it should be, about the meaning. Keep in mind that when a descriptive phrase is used at the beginning of a sentence, it applies to everything that follows until the subject changes or is restated: in the sentence ‘In 1879 he painted his first watercolour and began to work with oils in 1886,’ for instance, the date 1879 applies incorrectly to ‘began’ as well as correctly to ‘painted,’ so rewording is necessary: either ‘He painted his first watercolour in 1879 and began to work with oils in 1886’ or ‘In 1879 he painted his first watercolour, and in 1886 he began to work with oils’ would work.

Dangling participles are often problematic at the beginning of sentences, though they can turn up anywhere in a sentence. A dangling participle occurs when a participle or participial phrase is followed by a word other than the subject it modifies, as it is in ‘Plunging to enormous depths, we marvelled at the canyon’ and ‘Having found the right food at last, the diabetic dog was fed.’ It is clear to a thinking reader familiar with English that the ‘canyon’ plunges ‘to enormous depths’ and the person feeding the dog is the one who ‘found the right food,’ but the sentences do not actually say these things: they say that ‘we’ plunge ‘to enormous depths’ and ‘the diabetic dog’ was the one who ‘found the right food’ because those are the subjects that appear immediately after the participial phrases. Such sentences should be reworded so that their syntax reflects the realities reported: ‘We marvelled at the canyon that plunged to enormous depths’ and ‘Having found the right food at last, he fed the diabetic dog.’ Other kinds of dependent clauses that frequently appear at the beginning of sentences can present problems as well, particularly when they are mistakenly used as independent clauses or full sentences. Although a dependent clause contains a subject and a verb (as the opening clause of this sentence does), it does not express a complete thought; instead, it often begins with a dependent marker word (such as ‘after,’ ‘when,’ ‘if,’ ‘because’ and ‘although’) that leaves the reader waiting for the rest of the thought: ‘After he had drafted his thesis’ and ‘Because she is afraid of fireworks’ are good examples. For this reason, a dependent clause cannot be a complete sentence, but should be either followed by a comma and an independent clause that does complete the thought, or preceded by an independent clause and (if necessary) a comma: ‘After he had drafted his thesis, he had it checked by a professional proofreader’ or ‘We left our dog at home because she is afraid of fireworks.’

Why PhD Success?

To Graduate Successfully

This article is part of a book called "PhD Success" which focuses on the writing process of a phd thesis, with its aim being to provide sound practices and principles for reporting and formatting in text the methods, results and discussion of even the most innovative and unique research in ways that are clear, correct, professional and persuasive.

The assumption of the book is that the doctoral candidate reading it is both eager to write and more than capable of doing so, but nonetheless requires information and guidance on exactly what he or she should be writing and how best to approach the task. The basic components of a doctoral thesis are outlined and described, as are the elements of complete and accurate scholarly references, and detailed descriptions of writing practices are clarified through the use of numerous examples.

The basic components of a doctoral thesis are outlined and described, as are the elements of complete and accurate scholarly references, and detailed descriptions of writing practices are clarified through the use of numerous examples. PhD Success provides guidance for students familiar with English and the procedures of English universities, but it also acknowledges that many theses in the English language are now written by candidates whose first language is not English, so it carefully explains the scholarly styles, conventions and standards expected of a successful doctoral thesis in the English language.

Individual chapters of this book address reflective and critical writing early in the thesis process; working successfully with thesis supervisors and benefiting from commentary and criticism; drafting and revising effective thesis chapters and developing an academic or scientific argument; writing and formatting a thesis in clear and correct scholarly English; citing, quoting and documenting sources thoroughly and accurately; and preparing for and excelling in thesis meetings and examinations. 

Completing a doctoral thesis successfully requires long and penetrating thought, intellectual rigour and creativity, original research and sound methods (whether established or innovative), precision in recording detail and a wide-ranging thoroughness, as much perseverance and mental toughness as insight and brilliance, and, no matter how many helpful writing guides are consulted, a great deal of hard work over a significant period of time. Writing a thesis can be an enjoyable as well as a challenging experience, however, and even if it is not always so, the personal and professional rewards of achieving such an enormous goal are considerable, as all doctoral candidates no doubt realise, and will last a great deal longer than any problems that may be encountered during the process.

Interested in Proofreading your PhD Thesis? Get in Touch with us

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Rene Tetzner

Rene Tetzner's blog posts dedicated to academic writing. Although the focus is on How To Write a Doctoral Thesis, many other important aspects of research-based writing, editing and publishing are addressed in helpful detail.

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Singular and Plural Nouns

Ai generator.

Singular and plural nouns refer to the number of entities being described. A singular noun names one person, place, thing, or idea, such as “dog,” “city,” or “idea.” In contrast, a plural noun indicates more than one entity, often by adding “s” or “es” to the end of the singular form, as in “dogs,” “cities,” or “ideas.” Some plural nouns have irregular forms, like “children” (from “child”) or “mice” (from “mouse”). Understanding the difference between singular and plural nouns helps in constructing grammatically correct sentences.

What are Singular and plural nouns?

Singular and plural nouns describe the number of entities being referred to. A singular noun names one person, place, thing, or idea, such as “cat,” “house,” or “thought.” A plural noun refers to more than one entity and usually forms by adding “s” or “es” to the singular, like “cats,” “houses,” or “thoughts.” Some plural nouns have irregular forms, such as “children” (from “child”) or “geese” (from “goose”). Understanding these forms is essential for correct grammar usage.

Examples of Singular and Plural nouns

• The cat is sleeping. The cats are playing.
• I have one apple . She has three apples .
• The book is on the table. The books are on the shelf.
• He bought a new car . They have two cars .
• The child is happy. The children are laughing.
• There is one tree in the yard. There are several trees in the park.
• The bird is singing. The birds are chirping.
• She has a red balloon . The balloons are floating.
• The flower is blooming. The flowers are colorful.
• I saw a mouse . The mice are running.
• The house is big. The houses are beautiful.
• He caught a fish . The fish are swimming.
• The baby is crying. The babies are sleeping.
• She has a blue dress . The dresses are hanging.
• The man is working. The men are talking.
• I found a penny . The pennies are on the ground.
• The toy is broken. The toys are scattered.
• The horse is fast. The horses are grazing.
• The tree is tall. The trees are swaying.
• He has a new watch . The watches are expensive.
• The dog is barking. The dogs are friendly.
• She bought a cupcake . The cupcakes are delicious.
• The goose is honking. The geese are flying.
• The knife is sharp. The knives are in the drawer.
• The leaf is green. The leaves are falling.
• The woman is singing. The women are dancing.
• I see a star . The stars are shining.
• The box is heavy. The boxes are stacked.
• The baby is cute. The babies are giggling.
• The pencil is on the desk. The pencils are in the drawer.

These examples illustrate how singular nouns refer to one entity, while plural nouns refer to more than one. Regular plural forms typically add “s” or “es,” whereas irregular plural forms have unique changes.

Singular and Plural nouns List

Certainly! Here’s the list organized into a table with four columns: Singular, Plural, Singular, Plural.

Singular and Plural nouns for Kids

Singular nouns refer to just one person, place, thing, or idea, while plural nouns refer to more than one. Here are some fun examples to help you learn:

• Apple becomes apples when there’s more than one.
• Ball turns into balls when you have many.
• Car changes to cars if there are several.
• Dog becomes dogs when you see a bunch.
• Elephant turns into elephants if you visit a zoo with many.
• Flower changes to flowers in a garden.
• Giraffe becomes giraffes if there are lots.
• Hat turns into hats if you have a collection.
• Ice cream becomes ice creams when you want multiple flavors.
• Juice turns into juices when you have different kinds.

Singular and Plural nouns Rules

Understanding the rules for singular and plural nouns is essential for proper grammar. Here are the basic rules:

Irregular Singular and Plural nouns

Irregular nouns do not follow the standard rules of pluralization by simply adding “s” or “es.” Here are some common examples:

Singular and Plural nouns Exercises

Exercise 1: convert singular to plural.

Convert the following singular nouns to their plural forms:

Exercise 2: Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the noun in parentheses.

• The ____ (dog) are barking loudly.
• She has two ____ (child).
• There are many ____ (city) in the world.
• I saw a nest with three ____ (mouse).
• The park has several ____ (goose).
• I lost one of my ____ (tooth).
• The autumn wind blew the ____ (leaf) away.
• Several ____ (person) attended the meeting.
• We caught several ____ (fish) in the lake.
• The garden has many ____ (cactus).

Exercise 3: Match the Singular with the Plural

Match the singular nouns on the left with their correct plural forms on the right.

• Man a. Geese
• Foot b. Men
• Mouse c. Teeth
• Goose d. Feet
• Tooth e. Mice
• Man – b. Men
• Foot – d. Feet
• Mouse – e. Mice
• Goose – a. Geese
• Tooth – c. Teeth

Exercise 4: Identify Singular or Plural

Identify whether the underlined noun is singular or plural.

• The trees in the park are tall.
• A child is playing in the sandbox.
• Three women are shopping together.
• The dog is chasing its tail.
• The leaves are falling from the trees.

How do you form the plural of most nouns?

For most nouns, add “s” to the end, such as “dog” becomes “dogs” and “car” becomes “cars.”

What is the plural form of a noun ending in “s,” “x,” “z,” “ch,” or “sh”?

Add “es” to the end of the noun, such as “bus” becomes “buses” and “box” becomes “boxes.”

How do you form the plural of nouns ending in “y”?

If a noun ends in a consonant + “y,” change “y” to “ies,” like “baby” to “babies.” If a vowel precedes “y,” add “s.”

What are irregular plural nouns?

Irregular plural nouns do not follow standard rules, such as “child” becomes “children” and “mouse” becomes “mice.”

How do you form the plural of nouns ending in “f” or “fe”?

Change “f” or “fe” to “ves,” like “wolf” to “wolves” and “knife” to “knives.”

Are there nouns that have the same singular and plural form?

Yes, some nouns like “sheep,” “deer,” and “series” are the same in both singular and plural forms.

How do you pluralize compound nouns?

Pluralize the principal word in the compound noun, such as “brother-in-law” becomes “brothers-in-law.”

How do you form the plural of nouns ending in “o”?

For most nouns ending in “o,” add “es,” like “tomato” to “tomatoes.” However, some simply add “s,” like “piano” to “pianos.”

What are uncountable nouns?

Uncountable nouns cannot be pluralized and refer to substances or concepts, like “water,” “information,” and “furniture.”

How do you know when to use singular or plural nouns?

Use singular nouns for one item and plural nouns for more than one. Context and quantity indicators help determine usage.

Text prompt

• Instructive
• Professional

10 Examples of Public speaking

20 Examples of Gas lighting

Is thesis singular or plural

Add your answer:

Plural form of hypothesis?

it's theses: pronounced (thee-sees)

Can you give 100 examples of plural pronoun?

No, because there are not 100 plural pronouns.The plural pronouns are:weusyou (can be singular or plural)theythemthesethoseouroursyour (can be singular or plural)yours (can be singular or plural)theirtheirsourselvesyourselvesthemselvesbothfewfewermanyothersseveralall (can be singular or plural)any (can be singular or plural)more (can be singular or plural)most (can be singular or plural)none (can be singular or plural)some (can be singular or plural)such (can be singular or plural)

Is are plural or singular?

Are is plural. "Is" is singular. For example, "There is a glove on the chair". That is singular. "There are gloves on the chair". That is plural.

Is coat singular or plural?

singular Singular: plural is coats

Is diagnosis singular or plural?

diagnosis is singular diagnoses is plural sis = singular ses = plural

Top Categories

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Nouns: singular and plural

Nouns used only in the singular.

Some nouns are used only in the singular, even though they end in -s . These include: the names of academic subjects such as classics, economics, mathematics/maths, physics ; the physical activities gymnastics and aerobics ; the diseases measles and mumps; and the word news :

Maths was never my best subject at school.

Aerobics is great fun – you should try it!

Nouns used only in the plural

Some nouns only have a plural form. They cannot be used with numbers. They include the names of certain tools, instruments and articles of clothing which have two parts.

Tools and instruments

I’ve got new sunglasses . Do you like them?

He always wears shorts , even in the winter.

We can use pair of to refer to one example of these nouns:

I bought a new pair of binoculars last week.

That old pair of trousers will be useful for doing jobs in the garden.

We use pairs of to refer to more than one example of this type of noun:

They’re advertising two pairs of glasses for the price of one.

I bought three pairs of shorts for the summer.

Other nouns which are always plural in form

Please ensure that you take all your belongings with you as you leave the aircraft.

They live on the outskirts of Frankfurt, almost in the countryside.

My clothes are wet. I’ll have to go upstairs and change.

She spent all her savings on a trip to South America.

Collective nouns (group words)

Some nouns refer to groups of people (e.g. audience, committee, government, team ). These are sometimes called collective nouns. Some collective nouns can take a singular or plural verb, depending on whether they are considered as a single unit or as a collection of individuals:

In general, a plural verb is more common with these nouns in informal situations.

Piece words and group words

Word of the Day

sink or swim

If you are left to sink or swim, you are given no help so that you succeed or fail completely by your own efforts.

Fakes and forgeries (Things that are not what they seem to be)

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Thesis name (singular vs. plural)

I need to choose a name for my masters thesis (computer science degree). My current name proposal is following:

Computer Vision Application in a Driver Assistance System

What I am not sure of is whether parts of name should be in singular or plural. I consider also following:

Computer Vision Application in Driver Assistance System s Computer Vision Application s in Driver Assistance System s

And less so this:

Computer Vision Application s in a Driver Assistance System

The plan is to design a single "assistance system" (probably Froward Collision Warning) but the name may allow some maneuvering space in case more will be done (a more complex system than only FCW or even multiple systems - although multiple is rather unlikely). The means will be mainly stereo vision (but could be more again, I am not sure now).

May I ask for a hint on my naming issue? Are there any "naming conventions" for grammatical numbers? I am also not sure about the preposition ("in") - would a "for" be more appropriate?

• grammatical-number

I would say that the stakes here are not grammatical, but to do with your perceived " humility ". The convention in scientific academic writing is always to let others decide to what extent your results can be generalized. If you've been dealing with just one application and one DAS, then restrict yourself to talking about your own experience and keep everything in the singular. As for whether or not to use the indefinite article a , the initial article can be omitted (like in a newspaper headline) for reasons of concision, but I would retain " a Driver Assistance System", because with two missing articles the title of the thesis starts to look too much like ungrammatical English.

• Thanks for an answer. I forgot that "a" in "Computer Vision Applications in Driver Assistance System" - it was not an intention to leave it out - thanks for spotting that too though! I made a correction. –  Kozuch Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 9:41
• What is your opinion on the in/for prepositions? –  Kozuch Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 9:53
• 1 You could use either. If the application is designed for use in a DAS and could not conceivably be used in any other context, then go with for . –  Lachlan Dominic Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 10:00
• Regarding the "Application" - do you think that is appropriate? Or would you suggest anything better? –  Kozuch Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 10:29
• To give you my considered answer I'd need to read the thesis. I'm sure it's an absolute belter, but .. not today! Application seems fine to me. However, if whatever it is incorporates both software and hardware elements, you might prefer a more general term such as component . –  Lachlan Dominic Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 10:53

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First person plural or singular pronouns for thesis presentation

I am going to do an oral presentation for my thesis. Normally, when presenting a paper, as the paper is a collaboration work, I always use the pronoun "we".

The thesis is written based on the papers. However, when presenting (for example, when talking about the contributions of the thesis), I feel using "we" a bit odd.

Should I use "we" or "I"? Many thanks.

• presentation

• 4 Do not use the Royal one ! :-p –  Massimo Ortolano Commented Nov 13, 2020 at 12:36
• 3 This is also worth checking out. –  mustaccio Commented Nov 13, 2020 at 21:03

4 Answers 4

Use "we" when referring to something you did as a team, and use "I" when referring to something that you did by yourself. That is what these words are for.

Using "we" and "I" consistently in this way helps to make clear what your contributions were, and this is often exactly what the jury wants to find out during your presentation. If you choose to not go with the above option you should make it clear in some other way what you did and what others did.

Of course, if there is a clear preference in the culture where you are presenting it is best to follow that preference, but you would probably not be asking the question if that were the case.

• 7 +1 for calling out that it's very important in this context to differentiate your own personal contribution from collaborative (or others') work. I would be very careful to us "I", "we" and "they" very precisely. –  CCTO Commented Nov 13, 2020 at 19:50
• That's also what I thought actually. –  lenhhoxung Commented Nov 17, 2020 at 15:16

That's a matter of opinion. If it's your official thesis defense presentation, you're representing your work, so it would be fine to use "I". But others may prefer to stick with the common "we".

There is no 'correct' answer here. You should do what you feel comfortable with.

• Took the words right out of my mouth. Er... hands. Anyway, spot on. –  Buffy Commented Nov 13, 2020 at 12:22
• Seconded here. In my experience, even papers that are authored by a single author typically use "we" (in math at least), presumably to acknowledge the contributions of others they bounced ideas off of, chatted with, etc. even if not formally acknowledged. I would say a thesis presentation (or similar) is basically the only time "I" is commonly used, and even there, people often use "we" simply out of habit. That being said -- I don't think anything bad will happen if you use the wrong pronoun. I think people will be focused on the content, not the implicit attribution! –  Richard Rast Commented Nov 14, 2020 at 15:09
• 8 Math papers are a little bit special. They are written in the present tense, and I interpret the "we" as the author and the reader making their way together through the material. –  Mark Foskey Commented Nov 14, 2020 at 20:08

There is no rule you have to pick one exclusively. I would not bat an eye at someone using "we" for the collaborative sections and "I" at their sections.

Especially for a thesis presentation, everyone knows you and who your group is.

• 5 Indeed, something like "Here we were interested in XYZ, so I made samples and analyzed them with..." is perfectly acceptable. "We" for big picture stuff, "I" for stuff you personally did. –  Jon Custer Commented Nov 13, 2020 at 15:27

I agree with the options the other answers present, and that in the end it is up to you to decide what to do, keeping your audience in mind. However, the other answers do not say much about which of those options to choose, so I'd like to cover that in more detail.

Those words you're using, what do they mean?

First, let's take a step back and look at what the words mean. "we" refers to a group of more than person including the author/speaker* (unless you want to be patronizing or indicate that you're important than your audience , but I recommend against such arrogance). "I" refers to exactly one person, the author/speaker.

With these definitions of the meaning of "we", we(!) can rephrase your question as follows:

During an oral presentation for my thesis, should I attribute the contributions to myself only, or also to my coauthors?

Your options

And that is a good question! I see 3 workable options 1 here:

Attribute all contributions to the group consisting of you and your coauthors, and use "we" exclusively when talking about contributions. Note that this is about contributions only, never say something like "we thank our wife for her support during the writing of this thesis" 2 . Additionally, when "the group of you and your coauthors" is only a single person (i.e. you 3 ), you should use "I", of course. This is (usually) the case with your thesis, for example.

Attribute all results to yourself and use "I" exclusively when talking about contributions. If you do so, I recommend you at least briefly aknowledge the support of your coauthors at the start of your presentation. They would almost certainly feel ignored otherwise. (and they may still feel so if you only acknowledge them at the start! But that is a risk inherent to this option)

Decide in advance which contributions belong to you only, which contributions belong to all of you, and use both "I" and "we" accordingly.

As you can see, these options are distinguished in how you choose to assign the attribution of your work in cases where ownership is not obvious for the audience. This means that the difference between the options can be minor in practice, in particular when the ownership of most of your work is very clear.

I think there are pros and cons to all of these options. Which one to choose would mostly depend on what your audience expects of your presentation and what your goals are.

Pros and cons

The main advantage of options 1 and 2 is that you do not have to decide (or negotiate!) which contributions are really "yours" 3 . This makes it easier to prepare for your presentation, and harder to make mistakes. Whether you can afford option 1 or 2 would depend on the context. If, for example, your defense is mainly ceremonial (yes, this is possible. Academia varies more than you think ), then it may not be nessecary to assert your personal contribution during your defense and option 1 would be fine. At the least, your co-authors or friends their should not have to feel they are being ignored this way. I personally would not be comfortable with option 2, but there may be communities or cultures where this is acceptable or even the norm.

If you cannot afford or do not like options 1 or 2, then you should go for 3. This is a bit more complicated, as now you will have to decide what your personal contribution is and need to be careful to use the right words during your talk. (while you will probably have to do this sooner or later, a serious defense is likely one of the more confrontational settings to make this assertion) You may need to be careful when your idea of ownership conflicts with the feelings of coauthors present during your defense. Most decent people will not make a big deal about this, but well, not everyone is a decent person. If you suspect that someone might make a big deal about it, it might be a good idea to talk to them about it before your defense.

1. A fourth option would be to avoid both "we" and "I", but the author does not consider this a workable option, as one would have to refer to themselves in the third person when talking about their own (joint) contributions. This would be even more awkward for a speaker than it is for an author. Or at least, this author would imagine so. 2. Paraphrased from How to write mathematics by Paul Halmos, Chapter 13 "The editorial we is not all bad" 3. I mean singular "you" here. This would have been clearer if the English words for 2nd person singular and plural were not homonyms in most forms. (yes, "y'all" exists, but that does not help to indicate the singular, and its possessive form does not appear to be the lesser evil)

• "Y'all" IS the singular. The plural is "all y'all"! (Also: thee, thou, thy, thine.) –  JeffE Commented Nov 16, 2020 at 4:17
• 2 @JeffE I'm not an expert, but that seems to be a matter of debate . Which in itself implies the term does not decrease ambiguity as much as I'd hoped it would. Thanks for the other suggestions, good to know the English language used to have the words I wanted. I might actually use that when I prefer using stereotypical archaic words over making complaints about the English language. –  Discrete lizard Commented Nov 16, 2020 at 7:05

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Plural of thesis

Hi everyone! Need a small advice Can anyone suggest a plural of thesis? Thanks in advance.

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