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I have had to write an erratum (single) to one of my papers recently. I searched the internet and I found out that there are at least three versions as follows:

  1. An erratum to "the title of the paper".
  2. Erratum to "the title of the paper".
  3. Erratum: "the title of the paper".

I chose the pattern number 1, but I was wondering which one of these patterns are more grammatically correct?

When there are more than one error to address in the paper, I suppose there is only one option (Errata to "the title of the paper"). Am I right?

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If you want to stick with majority usage, you'll be "more right" if you say "When there is more than one error..." –  FumbleFingers Jan 30 '13 at 0:08

1 Answer 1

Yes, you are probably right, at least according to "The Cambridge Guide to English Usage" where, after a long explanation on words of two or more syllables that end in -um, Pam Peters says:

A few scholarly words ending in -um are found with Latin plurals everywhere in the world, namely addenda, ... , errata, ... , ova.

So, according to that book, you should use errata to pluralize erratum.

However, try asking on writer.SE, too.

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Data is the plural of datum and schemata is the plural or schema, but why did those ^%*($@?!! at google and microsoft insisted on using datas and schemas and now we have to use these annoying terms too. –  Blessed Geek Jan 30 '13 at 1:15

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