Woman v/s Women

Happy Black Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'd like to talk about that pesky word woman and the plural form women. I see this mistake so often, it's all I can do to not rip out my hair and bang my head on my desk. So, please be so kind as to read on and save me from uglification (holy crapballs, that's a word!).

Woman is the singular. Women is the plural. When you confuse the two, you look uneducated. Period. Grammar Nazi or no, you need to not confuse the simplest parts of speech if you want people to take you seriously as a writer.

Woman - Examples of correct usage:
That woman left her kids in the car all day with no air conditioning!
Would you please tell a woman today how beautiful she is?
Woman, bring me another beer!
Get that woman a mop, because she needs to clean my floors.

Note the word woman generally follows the word a or the word that. Singular. Not they, them, those, we, or otherwise.

Women - Examples of correct usage:
Those women need to buy a clue; that dude isn't interested.
We have five women here today to speak on behalf of our project.
Hard working women are God's gift to the lazy men of the world.
Women, as a collective, need to be kinder to one another!

Note the use of those, are, collective, and five. All of these words give you a clue that we're talking about more than one woman.

Incorrect usage:
That women left her kids in the car yesterday while she went into work!
Would you please tell a women today how beautiful they are?
Those woman are hard working.

I'm hoping you're getting my point. Please please try and remember the difference. An easy way: Men is plural for man. Easy peasy.

What confusion drives you batty?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo