Criteria-Criterion

By Judy Vorfeld

Are you like a lot of peo­ple who get con­fused when the plural of a word doesn’t end in “s”?

CRITERIA OR CRITERION?

“Criteria” is plural (like “phe­nom­ena”), while “cri­te­rion” is sin­gu­lar, like “phe­nom­e­non.” You have one cri­te­rion or many cri­te­ria. It’s easy to be con­fused, since some words (e.g., “data” and “media”) are the same whether sin­gu­lar or plural.

Examples: Angela Allen Parker detailed the six basic cri­te­ria for accept­ing a client…The restau­rant has one cri­te­rion for entry: every cus­tomer must wear shoes or sandals.

Criteria: plural
Criterion: single