This tag applies to questions that deal with grammatical number: “singular” versus “plural”, and (rarely) also “dual”.
3
votes
3answers
304 views
Using apostrophes with plural and possession
We have something going to print today, but everyone in the office is arguing as to where to correctly place the apostrophe in the sentence (if at all!)
The sentence is:
Bring your event into the ...
4
votes
4answers
3k views
“A good memory” vs. “good memories”
If I say, "I don't have a good memory of my childhood", would it imply that I cant recollect it or that I have bad memories (bad stories, unhappy) childhood?
I think that "good memories" implies the ...
1
vote
1answer
100 views
To apostrophe or not to apostrophe [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
User’s Guide vs Users’ Guide
I am sorry if this is really obvious but I can't work out from Wikipedia if it's right to use one here. My English is terrible but I try:
...
-1
votes
2answers
152 views
Plural of looker-on and terminus [closed]
I found the plural for Looker-on as both Lookers-on and Looker-ons!!
Is this possible? Also the plural for Terminus is given as Termini and Terminuses!
Please clarify the plurals for Looker-on and ...
2
votes
1answer
675 views
Should I say “3 half days” or “3 half-days” or “3 half-day”?
Should I say "3 half days" or "3 half-days" or "3 half-day"? I mean I want to refer to, for example, the a.m. of Monday, the p.m. of Wednesday, and the a.m. of Friday, together.
4
votes
2answers
141 views
Can a group of books be one of the best-selling books in the nation? [closed]
Is this sentence grammatically correct?
Dystopian books are one of
the best-selling books in the nation.
2
votes
2answers
239 views
Singular or plural verb after collective noun initialism
Are companies/groups of people considered plural? What about their initialisms?
I'm unsure if I should use have (plural verb) or has (singular) in the following situations:
The Federal Bureau ...
2
votes
2answers
74 views
Grade vs. Grades when modifying a range [closed]
When I look on Google, I see both of these used.
Singular:
... for students grade 6-12
Plural:
... for students grades 6 - 12
The plural form has significantly more results on Google and ...
1
vote
1answer
238 views
“I worked in a chemists” vs “I worked in a chemist's” vs “I worked in a chemist”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Store names & possessive
What is the correct grammar for saying that I worked for a chemists (that is, a shop that sells medicine)?
Is it
I worked in a chemist
...
0
votes
2answers
176 views
“Lives” vs. “life” in “the life of those living on the farm”
James is giving a tour of his farm to some of his friends. Which sentence is correct:
James introduces some of the animals on the farm: "This is Elmer, the pig... That's Mini, the mouse, and that ...
-2
votes
5answers
490 views
“Travel” vs. “travels” [closed]
My question is about formation of plural form of the noun travel.
I have a folder on my PC that contains a photos from my different travels (France, Germany etc.), I want to create a folder structure: ...
3
votes
3answers
125 views
“I like number 2 and 3” or “I like numbers 2 and 3”?
What is the correct form and what is the exact name of this phenomenon. I tried looking it up myself but I could only find a German explanation that might also explain the English problem.
An example ...
0
votes
2answers
111 views
“My brother along with his wife was present in the party” or “My brother along with his wife were present in the party”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
X, along with Y, 'were'/'was'
Could someone tell which one is appropriate in the following sentence?
My brother along with his wife was/were present ...
2
votes
2answers
178 views
Why the discrepancy between number and case in (some) British English?
By chance, I've heard a lot of Midlands English in the last few weeks, and have noticed this sort of disconnect:
"It cost me five pound" (rather than 'pounds');
"The ball rolled ten foot" (rather than ...
0
votes
0answers
101 views
Is 'vice' the plural of 'vouse'? [closed]
I know mice is the plural of mouse, and lice is the plural of louse. What is the singular form of vice?
1
vote
3answers
94 views
Why “magnetic properties”? [closed]
Why do we talk about a material or metal having magnetic properties (as opposed to having a magnetic property)?
2
votes
3answers
507 views
Pluralization of proper nouns: regular or irregular? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Family name pluralization
If a proper noun is a homograph of a common noun, is the proper noun subject to the same usage and form rules as the common noun, especially if ...
7
votes
4answers
241 views
Is it grammatical to say “the batmen”?
As far as I know, the five actors to have played the role of Batman in films are Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, and Christian Bale. Is it grammatical to call them "the batmen"?
...
0
votes
3answers
68 views
“Replacing variables with their equivalence classes” vs. “… with their equivalence class”
In my thesis I have the following sentence:
One can construct a new query by replacing all the variables in Q with their equivalence classes.
I doubt that this sentence is grammatically correct, ...
10
votes
5answers
648 views
More than 1000 gallons of paint is/are sold each day [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Plural/singular verb agreement with units
Does modifying a collective noun with a number make the subject plural?
Can anyone help me determine the correct verb in this ...
2
votes
2answers
118 views
“… the top ten issues that the voting public care about” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Are collective nouns always plural, or are certain ones singular?
Is “staff” plural?
This feels wrong to me (sounds like it should be cares) but issues is plural and in ...
3
votes
2answers
284 views
“Change their positions” vs. “change their position” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“Those who qualify will be awarded a certificate” or “those who qualify will be awarded certificates”?
“On their back” or “on their ...
1
vote
1answer
71 views
Express a phrase as compound [closed]
I need to express this phrase as a short compound to be used as programming variable name (this phrase is in the context of a software user interface):
the block showing current chatters
I have ...
5
votes
1answer
356 views
plural noun/singular verb and vice versa [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
None as plural indefinite pronoun
In my work I am often exposed to sentences written by nonnative speakers of English.
I often come across sentences with a singular noun ...
0
votes
1answer
123 views
Why is the singular of “week” used in “two-week business trip”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Pluralization rule for “five-year-old children”, “20 pound note”, “10 mile run”
According to Google, it is correct to say "two-week ...
3
votes
0answers
39 views
How to explain why do we use, e.g. “1” video but “0” videos? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Correct plural form of a zero quantified noun
It's getting really complicated when you have to explicate to a student a bunch of habitual "Whys"!
For example, how do I ...
6
votes
1answer
163 views
“What questions [is/are] your data team hoping to answer?”
Over at stats.stackexchange we are having a minor kerfuffle over whether a title is using incorrect grammar. It has been edited and re-edited several times. It would be great to get some arbitration ...
-2
votes
3answers
164 views
What are or What is [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Singular or plural following a list
Which of the following are correct:
What are the primary cause and the primary consequence of the...
What is the primary ...
-2
votes
2answers
642 views
“Employee list” or “employees list” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
User’s Guide vs Users’ Guide
should a list of tokens be called a “token list” or a “tokens list”
I know we can use list of employees, but I'd ...
3
votes
1answer
303 views
Why are certain single word compound nouns pluralized in the middle
Hypothesis: compound nouns that are unhyphenated single words can be pluralized by adding an “s” to the noun root only when they consist of a noun + preposition.
This is a follow-up to an earlier ...
9
votes
3answers
1k views
Collective nouns and subject-verb agreement: general rule or arbitrary?
A newspaper ran this headline recently:
(1) Police crack down on IAC protesters. [emph added]
Why did it not read:
(2) ? Police cracks down on IAC protesters.
I have found instances of ...
2
votes
1answer
845 views
Collective noun “police” — singular or plural? [closed]
A newspaper ran this headline today:
Police crack down on IAC protesters.
Isn't the following more appropriate?
Police cracks down on IAC protesters.
-2
votes
1answer
77 views
Thing count or thingS count [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“User accounts” or “users account”
Should a list of tokens be called a “token list” or a “tokens list”
“BookList” or “booksList?”
When there ...
-2
votes
1answer
1k views
Correct use of possession for the plural 'ladies' [closed]
At a clothing store, you might see a sign saying Men's Clothing, and the possessive use of the apostrophe correctly indicates that the clothing is suited towards the group "Men" (i.e. more than one ...
2
votes
3answers
333 views
“huge volume of data” or “huge volumes of data” [closed]
"huge volume of data" or "huge volumes of data"
Should I use a singular form or a plural form?
Search in Google results in 178,000 hits vs 256,000 hits.
-1
votes
1answer
119 views
Noun following “everyone's” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is “everyone” singular or plural?
Would the noun following "everyone's" be plural? For example:
Everyone's heart sank.
1
vote
3answers
788 views
“Success” or “successes”
Which is correct?
The newspaper described the success of people like Bob and Joe.
The newspaper described the successes of people like Bob and Joe.
2
votes
1answer
1k views
Plural followed by singular - “have” or “has”?
I'm wondering which of the following is correct:
Guns are an invention that have had an enormous impact on African history.
or
Guns are an invention that has had an enormous impact on ...
3
votes
2answers
206 views
Plural of “Average” as a noun? [closed]
I have a sentence lingering in my mind that I read somewhere, but the way I'm remembering it it doesn't sound right:
The averages have the power of invisibility.
Is this correct pluralization of ...
1
vote
2answers
82 views
Is it “the position of particles” or “the positions of particles”?
Having many objects (particles) with one property (position), what is grammatically correct?
the particles' position
the particles' positions
It should be noted, that it is possible for one ...
-2
votes
3answers
90 views
Response time or response times [closed]
Which is grammatical?
response time of multiple services
response times of multiple services
3
votes
1answer
61 views
How do you refer to a member of a biological taxon in the singular?
If I wish to refer to, say, an Owl in the more generic form as a member of the biological order Strigiformes, what is the correct modification of the apparently plural word into a singular form?
For ...
0
votes
2answers
290 views
“Developments” or “development” [closed]
Should development be countable?
Some websites use developments, e.g. http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/
While others use development, e.g. http://www.un.org/en/development/
5
votes
5answers
1k views
What’s the correct plural possessive of “kids”?
I know that children’s books is correct, but for some reason I want to say kids books, even though I know that it’s a plural possessive noun ending in an s.
A quick search on the web turns up Barnes ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
How to refer to specified 'criteria', as singular or plural? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“Criteria” versus “criterion”
Criteria is a word which defines collective recommendations for any entity.
I was drafting an email to my client ...
1
vote
3answers
388 views
Two horses - singular or plural [closed]
Is the following sentence (grammatically) correct?
I've got a brown and a black horses.
The sentence was meant to express the fact that I have two horses, a brown one and a black one.
I am ...
1
vote
3answers
239 views
'makes' or 'make' for this sentence [closed]
Which sentence is grammatically correct?
What are the elements in the poem that make it joyful.
or
What are the elements in the poem that makes it joyful.
37
votes
7answers
2k views
Was “book” to “beek” as “foot” is to “feet”?
"Foot" is a curious word in English because it is pluralized in an unusual way; the "oo" in the word is changed to "ee". Did this once use to be a standard way of pluralizing things in English (or a ...
4
votes
1answer
210 views
Plural form of 'schema'
Schema appears to have two plural forms that are both valid: schemata and schemas. Are they completely interchangeable; or are there any guidelines on which one is appropriate for particular contexts?
...
2
votes
4answers
1k views
“Tip” or “tips” of your fingers?
Which of the following is correct and why?
opportunity at the tips of her fingers
opportunity at the tip of her fingers
The former seems correct to me, but I don’t entirely understand why.
