English for Today by Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (Dr GAB)
SUMMON, SUMMONS, SUMMONSES
To summon is to order someone to come to a particular place or to gather together something for use:
The president summoned an emergency meeting. ✔️
You must summon up enough energy to complete the task. ✔️
Note that “summon” is not used as a noun:
I got a summon yesterday. ❌
A summons is an official order to appear in court. It is a singular noun which attracts article “a” and can be pluralised as “summonses”:
She received a summon to appear in court. ❌
She received summons to appear in court. ❌
She received a summons to appear in court. ✔️
Few of them rejected the summonses. ✔️
Summons can also be used as a verb to mean an order to appear in court:
She has been summoned to appear at the magistrate court. ❌
She has been summonsed to appear at the magistrate court. ✔️
The court summons offenders daily. ❌
The court summonses offenders daily. ✔️
GAB
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