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(1) Words used to describe agglomerations, like 'soup'and 'gravy', can often be used in either non-count or count mode:

"I've got soup on my shirt." [private communication]

..........

'Our hearty, easy-to-make Knorr gravies come in a variety of delicious flavours.' [Knorr® advert]

With antibody, the same behaviour is found:

'the pipette contained 25mg/ml of SN607D8 antibody'

[non-count usage]

.....

'within the polyclonal serum we found antibodies against a number of targets' [count usage, the plural form being used for 'types of antibodies']

........................

(2) A real complication arises however with how some terms, like antibody and antigen, are used. While we don't talk of a 'soup particle' or a 'gravy molecule', antibodies and antigens are etically discrete, and usage seeks to allow for this while failing to differentiate senses. While Webster's New World College Dictionary, 5th Edition has:

antibody noun pl. -bodies

a specialized protein produced by certain lymphocytes

(and we'd speak of a protein molecule, not of course a protein, when meaning a single molecule)

YourDictionary has:

antibody noun

The definition of an antibody is a protein molecule that can be found in the blood and ...

and RHK Webster's has

antibody n pl. -bodies

1. any of numerous protein molecules produced by B cells as a primary immune defense, each kind having a uniquely shaped site that combines with a foreign antigen, as of a virus or bacterium, and disables it.

licensing 'antibody' to be used interchangeably with 'individual antibody molecule'. This is a second count usage, and this situation is more confusing than the corresponding situation with say coffee ('The two coffees grown are arabica and robusta' v "Two coffees, please!") or cat ('jaguars and pumas are two less well-known cats' v 'two cats were fighting in the street').

With 'virus', the situation is clarified by using the term 'virion' for a single entity. The situation really needs rationalising elsewhere.

(1) Words used to describe agglomerations, like 'soup'and 'gravy', can often be used in either non-count or count mode:

"I've got soup on my shirt." [private communication]

..........

'Our hearty, easy-to-make Knorr gravies come in a variety of delicious flavours.' [Knorr® advert]

With antibody, the same behaviour is found:

'the pipette contained 25mg/ml of SN607D8 antibody'

[non-count usage]

..........

'within the polyclonal serum we found antibodies against a number of targets' [count usage, the plural form being used for 'types of antibodies']

...........................

(2) A real complication arises however with how some terms, like antibody and antigen, are used. While we don't talk of a 'soup particle' or a 'gravy molecule', antibodies and antigens are etically discrete, and usage seeks to allow for this while failing to differentiate senses. While Webster's New World College Dictionary, 5th Edition has:

antibody noun pl. -bodies

a specialized protein produced by certain lymphocytes

(and we'd speak of a protein molecule, not of course a protein, when meaning a single molecule)

YourDictionary has:

antibody noun

The definition of an antibody is a protein molecule that can be found in the blood and ...

and RHK Webster's has

antibody n pl. -bodies

1. any of numerous protein molecules produced by B cells as a primary immune defense, each kind having a uniquely shaped site that combines with a foreign antigen, as of a virus or bacterium, and disables it.

licensing 'antibody' to be used interchangeably with 'individual antibody molecule'. This is a second count usage, and this situation is more confusing than the corresponding situation with say coffee ('The two coffees grown are arabica and robusta' v "Two coffees, please!") or cat ('Jaguars and pumas are two less well-known cats' v 'Two cats were fighting in the street').

With 'virus', the situation is clarified by using the term 'virion' for a single entity. The situation really needs rationalising elsewhere.

(1) Words used to describe agglomerations, like 'soup'and 'gravy', can often be used in either non-count or count mode:

"I've got soup on my shirt." [private communication]

..........

'Our hearty, easy-to-make Knorr gravies come in a variety of delicious flavours.' [Knorr® advert]

With antibody, the same behaviour is found:

'the pipette contained 25mg/ml of SN607D8 antibody'

[non-count usage]

.....

'within the polyclonal serum we found antibodies against a number of targets' [count usage, the plural form being used for 'types of antibodies']

........................

(2) A real complication arises however with how some terms, like antibody and antigen, are used. While we don't talk of a 'soup particle' or a 'gravy molecule', antibodies and antigens are etically discrete, and usage seeks to allow for this while failing to differentiate senses. While Webster's New World College Dictionary, 5th Edition has:

antibody noun pl. -bodies

a specialized protein produced by certain lymphocytes

(and we'd speak of a protein molecule, not of course a protein, when meaning a single molecule)

YourDictionary has:

antibody noun

The definition of an antibody is a protein molecule that can be found in the blood and ...

and RHK Webster's has

antibody n pl. -bodies

1. any of numerous protein molecules produced by B cells as a primary immune defense, each kind having a uniquely shaped site that combines with a foreign antigen, as of a virus or bacterium, and disables it.

licensing 'antibody' to be used interchangeably with 'individual antibody molecule'. This is a second count usage, and this situation is more confusing than the corresponding situation with say coffee ('The two coffees grown are arabica and robusta' v "Two coffees, please!")

With 'virus', the situation is clarified by using the term 'virion' for a single entity. The situation really needs rationalising elsewhere.

(1) Words used to describe agglomerations, like 'soup'and 'gravy', can often be used in either non-count or count mode:

"I've got soup on my shirt." [private communication]

..........

'Our hearty, easy-to-make Knorr gravies come in a variety of delicious flavours.' [Knorr® advert]

With antibody, the same behaviour is found:

'the pipette contained 25mg/ml of SN607D8 antibody'

[non-count usage]

.....

'within the polyclonal serum we found antibodies against a number of targets' [count usage, the plural form being used for 'types of antibodies']

........................

(2) A real complication arises however with how some terms, like antibody and antigen, are used. While we don't talk of a 'soup particle' or a 'gravy molecule', antibodies and antigens are etically discrete, and usage seeks to allow for this while failing to differentiate senses. While Webster's New World College Dictionary, 5th Edition has:

antibody noun pl. -bodies

a specialized protein produced by certain lymphocytes

(and we'd speak of a protein molecule, not of course a protein, when meaning a single molecule)

YourDictionary has:

antibody noun

The definition of an antibody is a protein molecule that can be found in the blood and ...

and RHK Webster's has

antibody n pl. -bodies

1. any of numerous protein molecules produced by B cells as a primary immune defense, each kind having a uniquely shaped site that combines with a foreign antigen, as of a virus or bacterium, and disables it.

licensing 'antibody' to be used interchangeably with 'individual antibody molecule'. This is a second count usage, and this situation is more confusing than the corresponding situation with say coffee ('The two coffees grown are arabica and robusta' v "Two coffees, please!") or cat ('jaguars and pumas are two less well-known cats' v 'two cats were fighting in the street').

With 'virus', the situation is clarified by using the term 'virion' for a single entity. The situation really needs rationalising elsewhere.

(1) Words used to describe agglomerations, like 'soup'and 'gravy', can often be used in either non-count or count mode:

"I've got soup on my shirt." [private communication]

..........

'Our hearty, easy-to-make Knorr gravies come in a variety of delicious flavours.' [Knorr® advert]

With antibody, the same behaviour is found:

'the pipette contained 25mg/ml of SN607D8 antibody'

[non-count usage]

.....

'within the polyclonal serum we found antibodies against a number of targets' [count usage, the plural form being used for 'types of antibodies']

........................

A real complication arises however with how some terms, like antibody and antigen, are used. While we don't talk of a 'soup particle' or a 'gravy molecule', antibodies and antigens are etically discrete, and usage seeks to allow for this while failing to differentiate senses. While Webster's New World College Dictionary, 5th Edition has:

antibody noun pl. -bodies

a specialized protein produced by certain lymphocytes

(and we'd speak of a protein molecule, not of course a protein, when meaning a single molecule)

YourDictionary has:

antibody noun

The definition of an antibody is a protein molecule that can be found in the blood and ...

licensing 'antibody' to be used interchangeably with 'individual antibody molecule'. This is a second count usage, and this is more confusing than the corresponding situation with say coffee ('The two coffees grown are arabica and robusta' v "Two coffees, please!")

(1) Words used to describe agglomerations, like 'soup'and 'gravy', can often be used in either non-count or count mode:

"I've got soup on my shirt." [private communication]

..........

'Our hearty, easy-to-make Knorr gravies come in a variety of delicious flavours.' [Knorr® advert]

With antibody, the same behaviour is found:

'the pipette contained 25mg/ml of SN607D8 antibody'

[non-count usage]

.....

'within the polyclonal serum we found antibodies against a number of targets' [count usage, the plural form being used for 'types of antibodies']

........................

(2) A real complication arises however with how some terms, like antibody and antigen, are used. While we don't talk of a 'soup particle' or a 'gravy molecule', antibodies and antigens are etically discrete, and usage seeks to allow for this while failing to differentiate senses. While Webster's New World College Dictionary, 5th Edition has:

antibody noun pl. -bodies

a specialized protein produced by certain lymphocytes

(and we'd speak of a protein molecule, not of course a protein, when meaning a single molecule)

YourDictionary has:

antibody noun

The definition of an antibody is a protein molecule that can be found in the blood and ...

and RHK Webster's has

antibody n pl. -bodies

1. any of numerous protein molecules produced by B cells as a primary immune defense, each kind having a uniquely shaped site that combines with a foreign antigen, as of a virus or bacterium, and disables it.

licensing 'antibody' to be used interchangeably with 'individual antibody molecule'. This is a second count usage, and this situation is more confusing than the corresponding situation with say coffee ('The two coffees grown are arabica and robusta' v "Two coffees, please!")

With 'virus', the situation is clarified by using the term 'virion' for a single entity. The situation really needs rationalising elsewhere.