A Word, Please: A look at why ‘attorneys general’ is correct instead of ‘attorney generals’

A lot of people know that the plural of attorney general is attorneys general, including, I suspect, most readers of this column. But not many people know why. And even those who have a sense of why probably can’t explain it in grammar terms.

My sister, I found out recently, is among them. “Why is it attorneys general and not attorney generals?” she texted me.

“Because the noun is attorney,” I texted back. “General in this context is an adjective.”

What followed was a good lesson in information silos. In my mind, my reply was clear and unequivocal. But other people aren’t in my mind with me, apparently: “Hmmm,” she replied. “I thought Attorney General was the full title, not general as an adjective since they both are capitalized.”

To me, it was obvious that a full title could contain multiple parts of speech. But I can see now how others might think a title is a single unit, no matter how many words it contains, and think that because it’s a single unit, the internal words don’t really have grammatical relationships with each other.

“It is the full title,” I texted back. “Adj and noun just describe the relationship between the two words in the title. Like a certified public accountant. Accountant functions as noun. Certified is adjective.”

I pride myself in being able to make grammar simple and clear, so her reply was another blow to my ego. “Okay that makes a little more sense, but still not total sense. I mean, we don’t say Chiefs Executive Officer. The only language I know doesn’t make sense to me. LOL.”

That last part is important: English doesn’t make sense to any English speaker. It’s not a very logical language. And we’d all be better off if everyone understood that they’re not alone. If something about our language doesn’t make sense to you, you’re not the problem. But I digress.

At that point, I couldn’t handle typing answers out with my thumbs on my phone, so I called to explain.

Yes, I said, “chiefs executive officer” would be wrong because the noun is “officer,” and only nouns take a possessive S. Adjectives don’t, which is why we don’t say “bigs houses” or “gentles dogs.” In chief executive officer, “chief” is an adjective modifying the noun “officer.” So “officer” takes the plural S.

“Certifieds public accountants” would be wrong for the same reason. Only the noun, accountant, can take the plural S.

Those two examples would be intuitive for any native speaker. But “attorney general” throws us a curve ball for two reasons: First, the adjective comes after the noun. That’s unusual in English. It’s like saying a “house big” or a “dog gentle.” Second, the adjective in this title, “general,” is often a noun. So “attorney general” sounds a lot like “major general” or any other term that uses “general” as military rank. But in “attorney general,” it’s an adjective, not a member of the armed forces.

“I see,” she said. “I understand now, but it’s still weird.”

“Agreed, I said. And don’t even get me started on the possessive.”

Of course, this did get me started on the possessive of attorneys general. I’ll explain it here as concisely as I can.

Unlike the plural S, which attaches to the noun, the possessive apostrophe and S attach at the end of the whole title. So it’s “the attorney general’s opinion” if you have one and “the attorneys general’s opinions” if you’re talking about more than one. And that’s not just my interpretation. That’s straight out of the Associated Press Stylebook.

If you want to get the plural possessive right, it’s probably best not to put too much mental energy into “why?” Just committing it to memory is a feat.

— June Casagrande is the author of “The Best Punctuation Book Period.” She can be reached at JuneTCN@aol.com