Timeline for When do nouns convert between mass and count?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
15 events
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| Apr 13, 2017 at 12:38 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
replaced http://english.stackexchange.com/ with https://english.stackexchange.com/
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| Nov 1, 2011 at 12:33 | comment | added | Peter Shor | One word has gone the full circle: the noun cannon (as in artillery) went from a count noun (two cannons) to a mass noun (two pieces of cannon) to a noun with uninflected plural (two cannon) and back to a regular count noun (two cannons). | |
| Oct 31, 2011 at 22:56 | history | edited | avpaderno |
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| Oct 29, 2011 at 13:44 | comment | added | Hugo | M&S must be modeling and simulation, re-read the full sentence. | |
| Jun 27, 2011 at 6:36 | comment | added | Jonathan Leffler | What is 'M&S'? Modelling and Simulation? Marks and Spencer? | |
| Jun 26, 2011 at 18:44 | comment | added | Kosmonaut | @FumbleFingers: I actually more or less agree with you on codes, in that I don't think it has anything approaching a critical mass of use or acceptability. I would see the use of codes in this fashion as the error of a non-native speaker. | |
| Jun 26, 2011 at 18:11 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @Kosmonaut: oic - if you didn't notice the link then obviously you'd have thought my comment was at least odd, if not presumptive. Personally I think pedantic criticism of emails is misguided, but I stand firm (and as indicated, not alone) against pluralising codes to mean multiple instances of program code. | |
| Jun 26, 2011 at 16:25 | comment | added | Kosmonaut | @FumbleFingers: Heh, so there was a vote I wasn't aware of. (Didn't notice that link the first time around :) | |
| Jun 26, 2011 at 15:59 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @Kosmonaut: On the linked question it seems to me only one answer says that "codes" is acceptable, and that answer has 5 votes. All other answers (with 74 upvotes in total) seem to me to be saying this usage is incorrect. | |
| Jun 26, 2011 at 15:53 | comment | added | Kosmonaut | @FumbleFingers: Was there a vote I wasn't aware of? | |
| Jun 26, 2011 at 15:24 | answer | added | avpaderno | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 26, 2011 at 12:59 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I have no idea who "the M&S community" are, but unquestionably the EL&U community does not accept the pluralisation of "codes" as per OP's example. | |
| Jun 26, 2011 at 12:57 | comment | added | mgb | In the case of 'codes' to mean algorithms/libraries I think it's older than the singular use of source code. At least in academic use | |
| Jun 26, 2011 at 12:27 | comment | added | RegDwigнt | There are no "rules". Someone somewhere starts saying something, and it either catches on or it doesn't. See When does a mistake become standard usage?, Descriptivism and widespread misspelling, When does a word become a 'word'?, Regulatory bodies and authoritative dictionaries for English. | |
| Jun 26, 2011 at 12:17 | history | asked | Greg Bacon | CC BY-SA 3.0 |