Sorry if this has been asked before (can't find it), but my boss and I are having a debate about this. A web search on this topic is inconclusive.
He's decided that the email (or e-mail--that's another subject!) is a collective noun, so the plural is email. There's some support for that, but I personally think it's confusing. I think emails is better--what do you think?
emails.
'mail' is a collective noun, but if we wish to specify that collection of 'mail' is made up of individual letters, bills, etc.
can be both, i guess.
"I'm reading my email" may indicate plural emails, or it may mean just one email.
If you specify the number of messages, it's "e-mails." If you are talking about it like it's water flowing through a pipe, it's "e-mail."
"I get a lot of e-mail."
"He sent me three e-mails."
CiteWhat glatt said ...
How many emails did it take for you to prove him wrong? :p
hmm. a phrase like "review email from soandso" could mean one, or could mean many. unprecise!
yes, imprecise. much better!
emails
es-mail (you know, like the proper plural of mothers-in-law)
spam
I'm going with the first.
If you specify the number of messages, it's "e-mails." If you are talking about it like it's water flowing through a pipe, it's "e-mail."
"I get a lot of e-mail."
"He sent me three e-mails."
Cite
can you cite the post in which you make the statement? it's a cite loop!
With a citation, as you can see, it carries a certain authority. When really, I just made it all up.
But it sounds right, doesn't it?
How much email do you get?
How many emails do you get?
Sinpossible:
The wish to copulate with a person out of your league
The plural form of email, being an irregular noun, is femail.
If one sent or received mail on several occasions, one would have sent or received several "mailings." The plural of email should follow suit as "emailings"; however, while my ISP's [MSN] spell checker does recognize "mailings" as a valid word, it doesn't recognize "emailings" which leads me to conclude that "emails" was generally accepted early on as a shortened noun (for "emailings") in addition to its role as a transitive verb.
Sinpossible:
The wish to copulate with a person out of your league
You know what they say. Better to copulate than never.
Actually there is a techy acronym used as the plural for email - TMFE