Mr.Maru: That's a nice suit Sparky.
Sparky: Thank you.  I bought it yesterday. 
Mr.Maru: Why are you dressed nicely?  It's the middle of summer.
Sparky: Well, since we have this weekly blog series are statuses have improved.  We need to start looking nicer.
Mr.Maru: I don't think so Sparky.  We don't have that many readers.
Sparky: Yeah, we do.  The fans like us.
Mr.Maru: Really?  Do you think I should buy a tie?
Sparky: Yes, of course! I think people will laugh at you if your dog is better-dressed than you.

What is plural of status?  Is the plural of status, statuses or states or neither?  Let's talk about some examples and explain the rules for this word.

The Origin of the Word Status

The word first appeared in English in the 1670s.  The original meaning was 'height'.  This changed to the 'legal standing of a person' in the 1790s.  This transferred to social or professional standing in 1820.  We got the term 'status symbol' which means something that represents your status, in 1955.  The use of the word became very popular around 1975 which is about the time Status Quo, a popular rock band, was famous.  Was it a coincidence?

The Basic Definitions of Status

There are two main definitions of status as a noun that we use.  One definition is 'the position or rank of a person in comparision to others in society'.  For example,

She has full diplomatic status.
The promotion gave George a higher status in the company, but not a higher salary.

The other definition for status as a noun is 'the state or condition of affairs'.  For example,

What is that status of the environmental talks?
Jenny could not change the status of the negiotiations.  They were going badly.

The Medical and Scientific Definitions of Status

There is one more specialized use of status.  The definition for medical situations is 'the state or condition of a person'.  This is different than the state or condition of affairs.  For example,

The status of the patient is not good.
The doctor upgraded the status of the patient to stable.

What is the Plural of Status?

This is a difficult question.  The answer is different for different situations.  We can use the word 'statuses' if we are using it in a medical sense.  For example,

What are statuses of the patients from the car accident?
The statuses of the mother and baby are good.

We do not use 'statuses' to talk about the condition of affairs or the standing of an individual.  For example,

Spain's World Cup victory increased the status of the Spainish Soccer Team players.  NOT Spain's World Cup victory increased the statuses of the Spainish Soccer Team players.

Do you think you understand?  Let's take a short quiz.

1) The senator lost _________ after he was caught gambling.

A) statuses
B) status
C) a status

2) My brother's and sister's _________ stayed critical overnight.  I was really worried.

A) statuses
B) status
C) some status

3) The ______ of the debate is not looking good for the oil companies.

A) statuses
B) status
C) a status

Answers

1) B) - The senator lost his standing compared to others after doing something that looked bad (gambling).
2) A) - We can use 'statuses' because we are talking about their medical conditions.
3) B) - We are talking about the state or condition of affairs of the debate.

That's it for this week.  Thanks for stopping by.  Please be sure to say hi in the comments if you are new or if you have a question about status.  If you have question about another piece of grammar, please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Thanks for reading!