Can confusion be spelled as a plural, as in:
The child must sort out confusions of voice-to-print while reading.
I thought confusion was "global" enough to mean "more than one."
Can it be plural?
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Sounds perfectly natural to me.– user0721090601Jan 3, 2016 at 5:41
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The word is used as a mass (uncountable) noun most of the time, but has a countable noun usage. Confusion: The mistaking of one person or thing for another: [COUNT NOUN]: most of the errors are reasonable confusions between similar words.– user140086Jan 3, 2016 at 5:48
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Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic. Please make sure that you take the tour and visit our help center for additional guidance.– user140086Jan 3, 2016 at 5:51
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Thank you, Rathony! This was for an educator, and i thought perhaps it was a "normal usage" for teachers, etc. I have never seen it as a plural, so I thought I'd better ask. I appreciate the input! ;-)– SueWJan 3, 2016 at 18:40
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2 Answers
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, yes.
Most of the errors are reasonable confusions between similar words or sequences of words.
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Oxford Dictionaries Online (ODO) is not the same as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which is subscription-only. But +1 anyway. Jan 3, 2016 at 12:19
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Many words which denote abstractions can be used both as mass nouns and as count nouns, meaning "an instance of the abstraction". "Confusion" is just one example.
answered Jan 3, 2016 at 12:07
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Thank you! I appreciate all who weighed in. Just because I had never encountered that word didn't mean it wasn't legit. :-)– SueWJan 3, 2016 at 18:41