Sir, - Now that the electorate has ratified both the Amsterdam Treaty and changes to the Constitution, allow me to make a protest about the mistaken use of the word "referenda" as a plural for referendum.Referendum is, of course, a gerund, a verbal noun. Gerunds do not change and it was refreshing to hear one newscaster correctly referring to "the two referendum". Fowler allows "referendums" as the plural, making a concession to the English language rule of adding an "s". To create a plural word "referenda" demonstrates ignorance of the worst kind, namely pseudoscholarship. - Yours, etc., F.
Lowe,Upper Baggot Street,Dublin 4.