This tag applies to questions that deal with grammatical number: “singular” versus “plural”, and (rarely) also “dual”.
0
votes
0answers
32 views
Where should the apostrophe be for the singular and plural possessive forms of user? [closed]
My understanding of apostrophe usage for possessive forms of the word "user" is this:
Referring to a single user - user's.
Referring to multiple users - users'.
Is this correct? If not, what is? ...
0
votes
2answers
41 views
There is/are for multiple subjects [duplicate]
Which one is correct?
There is an apple and an orange..
or
There are an apple and an orange?"
2
votes
1answer
61 views
Singular/plural possessive form of fish? [closed]
The singular form of fish is fish. The plural form of fish is also fish. What are their possessive forms?
4
votes
4answers
2k 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 ...
31
votes
2answers
3k views
If the plural of ‘man’ is ‘men,’ shouldn’t the plural of ‘German’ be ‘Germen’?
What makes these two words so different that 'man' is changed to 'men', but 'German' is changed to 'Germans'?
0
votes
2answers
57 views
Plural of “uh-oh” and “oh-no”
Does the plural form of uh-oh and oh-no include an apostrophe? So is it "uh-oh's and oh-no's" or "uh-ohs and oh-nos"?
I've seen it both ways and cannot find a definitive answer anywhere.
2
votes
2answers
1k views
Singular or plural noun in a sentence after using both in a related conjunction?
Occasionally when I am writing a sentence, I end up in a situation where I do not know whether to use the singular or plural form of a noun because I used both just prior to it in a conjunction.
For ...
2
votes
2answers
2k views
Is there a plural of “metropolis”, not “metropolises”, that would sound better in a less formal register?
I am aware that the plural of metropolis is metropolises, but to me it sounds stilted and to be honest I cannot recall ever hearing it used.
Is there an irregular plural of metropolis that would be ...
0
votes
2answers
1k views
Plural form of “someone”'?
someone
Used for referring to a person when you do not know or do not say who the person is.
So in the sentence:
I will need someone from different continents who can help me to spread ...
0
votes
2answers
47 views
“No restriction” vs. “no restrictions”
The data center must be flexible. There should be no restriction/restrictions on user's choice of protocols.
What should it be?
7
votes
7answers
3k views
Apostrophes and caps in Happy Mother’s Day / Happy Mothers’ Day
So, I’m writing this as it is Mother’s (or maybe Mothers’) Day today, and I was wondering what would be a correct way to write that.
Should the apostrophe come be between the r and the s, or after ...
2
votes
3answers
2k views
Mixing plural and singular list items with a single verb
A friend wants to write,
There is no hardware to purchase, no additional software to install and no key fobs to worry about.
This is awkward because the verb "is" doesn't match up with the third ...
-2
votes
2answers
48 views
Plural possessive with compound subject [duplicate]
Is it "John and Becky's knowledge" or "John's and Becky's knowledge"?
0
votes
0answers
15 views
A date and time that suit you? [duplicate]
Which of these is correct?
A date and time that suit you
A date and time that suits you
I have always had doubts about this.
-1
votes
2answers
52 views
“Our head” or “our heads”? [closed]
When speaking of a group of people and referring to a body part of which there is only one (e.g. head, nose, mouth, etc.), do we use the singular or plural form? Which of the following is correct, or ...
2
votes
1answer
37 views
Plurals in titles of lists regardless of number of items
Not sure how to describe it, so here is an example.
This looks right, even though “tests which failed” has only one item in the list:
Tests which failed
Test #1
Tests which passed
...
0
votes
0answers
69 views
All - singular or plural [closed]
All is well that ends well
All that glitters is not gold.
In these sentences all is meant as singular but actually the word means plural number. I'm confused. Can someone clarify this for ...
1
vote
1answer
47 views
Singular or Plural Before List? [duplicate]
I'm trying to write a list of features available in my product, and I'm confused what the title should be:
Should I say "Features List" (features are plural) or "Feature List" (feature is singular).
...
0
votes
1answer
69 views
use of has been and have been [closed]
I read a sentence which goes like this:
david who is one of such students in the class who _________ working very hard.
could someone let me know what suits the blank the best: has been or have ...
-1
votes
1answer
56 views
“How does two friends” vs. “how do two friends” [closed]
Which of the following is grammatical?
How does two friends become lovers so quickly?
How do two friends become lovers so quickly?
I was thinking does would be the correct choice, am I ...
0
votes
0answers
97 views
“India have won” vs. “India has won” [duplicate]
I would like to know when to use singular or plural verb agreement when talking about a country. E.g.,
India have won the match.
India has won the match.
Which statement is grammatical? ...
0
votes
3answers
124 views
Correct usage of lbs. as in “pounds” of weight
What is the correct way to say:
"All items over 5 lbs. are excluded."
I'm specifically asking about "lbs." or is it "lb."? American English if it matters.
Also is "5lbs." ever correct? Or is it "5 ...
0
votes
1answer
38 views
Pluralization rules for descriptions
Consider a sentence of the following form:
X, and the Y which comes with it, is good.
Assume X and Y are nouns, and X is singular. Should "is" be replaced with "are"? Is there some other ...
3
votes
3answers
22k views
Which one is correct, “favourite song of all time” or “… of all times”?
Which one of these sentences is correct?
That is one of my favourite songs of all time.
That is one of my favourite songs of all times.
I am not a native English speaker.
0
votes
0answers
33 views
Savings and Costs Verb Treatment
So this has been bothering me for a while in the technical reports that I have been working on. I frequently come across these two sentences:
The energy savings, ES, are estimated to be $100.
and
...
2
votes
1answer
155 views
“1–2 minutes” or “1–2 minute(s)”
If we are using both singular and plural in the same sentence, how do we say or write it?
For example, which one is correct?
one to two minutes
one to two minute(s)
one minute to two minutes
-2
votes
1answer
88 views
“Any” followed by singular or plural countable nouns?
This question has troubled me for ages despite my several attempts of looking it up in dictionaries or usage books. Do we say, "Do you have any ideas" or "Do you have any idea"? I do see an example ...
5
votes
1answer
4k views
Rule on absence of the article “the” with plural nouns [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Definite article with plural nouns
I recently reviewed (as I believe, rather thoroughly) the rules of using articles in English and I do not recall any rule on absence ...
11
votes
4answers
6k views
There are no comments / There is no comment
Which is correct?
* "There are no comments."
* "There is no comment."
Which would you use for a web application, i.e. what to display when a blog post or an article has no comment attached?
...
0
votes
0answers
53 views
How do you express a natural habit of a species?
I am curious to know about the plural/singular form of addressing a species. For example, which expression is correct or more appropriate:
Lion does not eat wolf
Lions do not eat wolves
Or ...
0
votes
1answer
79 views
Which is right: “what pants is he wearing” or “what pants are he wearing”? [duplicate]
Since 'pants' is one of those always plural words, I can't figure out which sounds right.
1
vote
2answers
52 views
grammatical-number when subject and verb are separated by prepositional phrase [duplicate]
Is the following verb selection correct: "None of the 200 hospital patients was discharged today."
5
votes
3answers
5k views
“This kind of things” vs “These kinds of thing”
I have a question about the following text:
Last week Alex Knapp at Forbes published an article criticizing my Nikola Tesla comic. I don't normally respond to these kinds of thing, but since it's' ...
4
votes
2answers
66 views
“Copies of documents” vs. “copy of documents”
What is the grammatical difference between "copies of documents" and "copy of documents"?
Same applies to other nouns. Also, an example will be very much appreciated.
0
votes
0answers
105 views
A majority of those whose family or families
Is "family" both plural and singular? or would I have to say families for the plural form. for example, which of these is the best option:
"A majority of those whose family were unaware of their ...
2
votes
2answers
174 views
Not only X but also Y are (is?)
At first glance, sentence 1 below seems more correct because there are two subjects. However, something seems more natural about sentence 2. Maybe there is something abbreviated, elliptical, or ...
0
votes
2answers
86 views
Plural or singular verb for collective term
Should the verb, in the following sentence, be singular or plural?
A series of samples was produced.
In a related question I found a reference. However the text in that reference seems to ...
5
votes
2answers
6k views
Afterward versus afterwards — which, and/or when?
So, I've noticed over time that I see both "afterward" and "afterwards" at different times. Having a pet peeve (though I'm not certain it's actually a well-founded prejudice, lexicographically ...
2
votes
1answer
117 views
What is the plural of “stiffness”?
I’m proofreading for a friend (not that I am an expert on English or his subject matter!), and he has used the word stiffnesss in an engineering context.
I believed the plural should be stiffnesses, ...
4
votes
3answers
2k views
“Neither is” or “neither are” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Which is correct, “neither is” or “neither are”?
Which is correct?
No, neither of these websites is biased as they give a wide range of informative information ...
2
votes
1answer
113 views
“Goose”–“geese” vs,. “moose”–“moose”
Why is it that the plural of one goose is geese but the plural of moose is moose? Same goes for house and louse. The plurals are houses and lice, respectively.
7
votes
3answers
167 views
Plural or singular when stating that an amount is enough
A colleague of mine corrected the following sentence in a text I had written:
A handful of iterations was generally enough for convergence.
According to her it should be:
A handful of iterations ...
-1
votes
1answer
52 views
How to use “and” “is” “are” with locations [closed]
I am confused with how to use "is" and "are" with locations.
Which is correct?
a)Library and lecture room is crowded.
b)Library and Lecture room are crowded.
1
vote
1answer
76 views
Is it incorrect to refer to a set of things by using the singular form of the objects it contains? [duplicate]
I'm sorry I couldn't word that better, the following example will hopefully clarify:
As you can see, the teacher refered to the bank of words as "word bank", as opposed to "words bank". Which one ...
2
votes
1answer
103 views
“I have a pair of Google glass”?
How does one state they have a unit of the latest Google Glass glasses, given the way "glasses" is plural but "Glass" as in Google Glass, is not?
0
votes
2answers
58 views
Can “progeny” take the plural form?
There were things his grandchildren, in turn, should know. Yet he hesitated. How do you tell your children they are progenies of the self-proclaimed inventor of Manhattan clam chowder? (The New ...
2
votes
4answers
134 views
How should one make “man in the middle” plural?
Usually, when a phrase acts as a single word, the noun in the phrase gets made plural. For instance, "mother in law" becomes "mothers in law" when made plural.
When discussing "man in the middle" ...
3
votes
2answers
58 views
Is a range of dates singular or plural?
Given a sentence such as, "May 17-19 (is/are) available for our meeting," is it best to treat the "May 17-19" as a singular range or a plural number of dates?
-1
votes
0answers
27 views
plural of composite words, with hyphen [duplicate]
Is it correct (and if yes, why) to write:
"the 3-body problem", and not "3-bodies"
"a N-particle Hamiltonian" and not "N-particles"
"a two-man job" and not "two-men"
"a three-stage algorithm", and ...
3
votes
2answers
116 views
When ordering coffee, do you say “two milks” or “two milk”?
I've already searched the site if this question had been asked before however I didn't find anything related to my question. Every time I order coffee some people sort of correct me by saying 2 milks ...
