Questions tagged [grammatical-number]
This tag applies to questions that deal with grammatical number: “singular” versus “plural”, and (rarely) also “dual”.
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Omission of “a” or “one” in a number for spoken English
Does "a" or "one" always necessary when saying a number?
For example, is the following valid in spoken English?
1,034 = thousand thirty-four
Also what if 1 is in the middle of a number?
I know the ...
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28 views
Use of “a” or “an” in a fraction for spoken English
Can you use the word "a" in the denominator in place of "one"?
For example, if you have a number like: 103/105 ... is the following valid in spoken English?
"a hundred three over a hundred five"
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Plural or singular: “The socks in these pictures [are/is] the left one, before and after it was cleaned.” Is the correct conjugation “are” or “is”? [duplicate]
"The socks in question [are or is] the left one, before and after it was cleaned."
Is the correct conjugation "are" or "is"?
In the above sentence (and this one), a pair of socks is expected, but it ...
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1answer
44 views
Unidiomaticity of *“142lbs heavy”
Mastering English An Advanced Grammar for Non-native reads
Measure phrases can appear with non-compared adjectives: 5 feet tall.
Is
the measure phrase an argument of the adjective or an adjunct?...
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2answers
49 views
Confused by 'Carrot is my favorite food' / “Carrots are my favorite food”
I am so confused by these two sentences.
'Carrot is my favorite food'
"Carrots are my favorite food"
Are they both correct?
Or...
English is so confusing. Help me, please...
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1answer
41 views
Singular or plural 'electrical loads'
I have the following sentence:
"The methods can be used with every kind of flexible electrical loads "
Should load be in singular or plural?By flexible electrical loads I am referring to e.g. ...
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1answer
96 views
Singular or plural 'share of renewable energy'
I have the following sentences:
"Figure 5 shows the share of renewable energy in Europe between the years 2004 and 2018"
The figure is a bar diagramm that displays for every year (between 2004 and ...
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1answer
51 views
Is the phrase “Displaying 0 of 1 results” supposed to be singular, or plural?
I'm working on a piece of software that includes a field displaying how many results exist total, and how many are returned after filtering. All other grammar cases seem straightforward [0 of 0, 0 of ...
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1answer
34 views
Is one operation on two separate things singular or plural?
I have the following sentence:
"Burning fossil fuels like oil and gas is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities"
My question is whether I should use singular or plural ...
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1answer
59 views
Single or Plural?
Which one is correct?
a) A line was drawn between A and B as well as between C and D
b) Lines were drawn between A and B as well as between C and D
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42 views
Singular / Plural
I read this sentence in an English textbook:
'Men's work finish at the office, but women's work is extended to their households.'
Is the first clause grammatically correct, or it should be 'Men's ...
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35 views
stock [uncountable] vs livestock [uncountable, plural]
STOCK [uncountable]: farm animals, such as cows and sheep,
that are kept for their meat, wool, etc. SEE ALSO livestock
LIVESTOCK [uncountable, plural]: animals kept on a farm, for
example ...
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1answer
36 views
What or which before plural noun
Is "What things are safe?", instead of "which things are safe?", grammatical and good usage? Here is an example in a (simplified) context:
In this formula, we use predicate Psafe, which describes ...
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1answer
40 views
Is the usage of plural correct in this sentence? [closed]
Articulate an idea or a concept so that your content preempts questions
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1answer
30 views
a subtitle vs subtitles
What is the difference between saying a subtitle vs subtitles.
What would a subtitle refer to - one sentence or an entire subtitles?
For example, if I create a srt file for a movie, would that be a ...
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1answer
69 views
Single or Plural? “The length(s) of A and B was/were measured”
Which sentence (or sentences) is/are correct?
1) The length of A and B was measured
2) The length of A and B were measured
3) The lengths of A and B were measured
(Suppose both A and B are two ...
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21 views
When to use “profit” vs. “profits”?
I have noticed that some authors refer to the amount of money that a firm makes (net of costs) as "the firm's profit," while other authors refer to it as "the firm's profits." For example, consider ...
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1answer
56 views
Can we use a/an for plural pronouns?
First of all English isn't my first language so bear with me if you see any grammar mistakes here and there.
So my question is: can we use 'a/an' for plural pronouns? For example, "they are a good ...
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the plural of the name of the letter e is ees [duplicate]
According to the wikipedia article of letter e
The plural of the name of the letter e is ees (the plural of the
letter itself is rendered E's, Es, e's, es).
Therefore, is ees then a regular ...
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1answer
56 views
Is this sentence correct? It seems wrong, but I can’t pinpoint why!
I am proofing work for someone and this sentence seems incorrect, but I'm not sure why I think that. Is it truly incorrect? I feel like 'comes' should be 'come'.
He stumbles back downstairs to the ...
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0answers
44 views
Plural possessive of the acronym COA
How do I write the plural possessive of the acronym COA in APA style (which in general doesn't allow for the use of an apostrophe)?
COA = children orphaned by AIDS
Children orphaned by AIDS [...
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Shays' Rebellion or Shays's Rebellion?
On khan academy, it is Shays's. However on wikipedia, it is written Shays'. I am confused as to which one is grammatically correct. Thanks!
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1answer
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Is the word after 'footwear' in this sentence correct? Should it stay 'enhance' or should it be 'enhances'?
The sentence is this:
Take time to explore how your beautifully crafted footwear enhance your every moment.
This doesn't read comfortably to me and I feel that it should be 'enhances'.
Which is ...
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1answer
39 views
Do or does: “Stative verbs show a state of being that does/do…”
I read the sentence 'Stative verbs show a state of being that does not show qualities of change' on Grammarly.
I'd expected do instead of does, in the sentence. But by this, my understanding is that,...
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21 views
Do I use whom or who in this sentence? [duplicate]
Family engagement is crucial to developing children’s emergent literacy skills because children who are raised in homes that promote literacy do better in school and they grow up to be better readers.
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51 views
When comparing singular with a plural entities
A professor corrected me a sentence in an academic paper and he wrote:
An alternative to X method is automatic methods
and I am a bit puzzled that you can write a sentence in the form of "[singular ...
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1answer
59 views
Correct Usage of Plural Possessive Word “user”? [duplicate]
Which of the following is the correct usage of the plural possessive word "user"?
We would like to store a cookie in every user's browser.
or
We would like to store a cookie in every users' ...
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0answers
32 views
Usage of “the” prefix where it doesn't seem to be grammatically correct [duplicate]
I've noticed 2 instances of usage of a the prefix where it doesn't seem to correspond with standard usage of English.
The flu
I'd expect a flu or just flu:
He caught a flu
She's infected with ...
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1answer
66 views
“I don't have an apple” vs. “I don't have apples”?
I have seen both. I tried to think about the count. When it comes to "nothing", it indicates a number of 0, which in English should be expressed by plural. However, both forms are common.
Which form ...
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1answer
90 views
Why is the verb for “pretexts … and necessity … was exposed” used in the singular in this quotation? [closed]
In the following context, a quote from The Three Musketeers, shouldn’t it be were exposed?
The pretexts about the cold and the necessity for the cloak was exposed.
Or is was here referring just ...
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2answers
71 views
Would you add the plural “s” to the short form of an abbreviation on first reference?
When you want to give a group of words an abbreviation or short form so it doesn't have to be repeated in long form each time, and it is plural, how would it be abbreviated on first reference? Would ...
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3answers
456 views
Is cow ever the plural of cow?
I was thinking about ruminants, as you do, and I noticed that, unlike with sheep or deer, cows is the plural of cow. I started wondering why, then it occurred to me that maybe there were dialects that ...
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1answer
64 views
Should I use “What is the difference…” or “What are the differences…” if I don't know how many difference(s) there is/are?
If I want to ask a question about the difference(s) between A and B, but not sure about there is only one difference or many, should I use "What is the difference between A and B" or "What are the ...
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1answer
26 views
Singular characteristic to describe a list of items
Here's the question: The materials for the boxes, pallets, and crates are ready. The material for the boxes, pallets, and crates is ready.
Should "material" be plural or singular? I'm writing a paper ...
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Pluralization of martini
Why is martini pluralized when a volume larger than one drink is referred to? "I have a pitcher if martinis chilling." We don't say we have a pitcher of lemonades chilling.
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1answer
41 views
Singular or plural form? [closed]
Which sentence is correct?
The size of X and Y is the same.
The sizes of X and Y is the same.
The size of X and Y are the same.
The sizes of X and Y are the same.
As a non-native speaker, my feeling ...
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0answers
31 views
Plurals in generic grammar [duplicate]
A friend who is learning English asked me this question today and I was unable to give a definitive answer on grammar.
The phrase constructions below are quoted verbatim from them :
An English ...
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41 views
Is the sentence “Do you know how short 7 minutes IS” grammatically incorrect? [duplicate]
In this video at this time code, two of the various cops say "Do you know how short 7 minutes is?" Is that grammatically incorrect, since "7 minutes" is plural? Or is that just informal language? Or ...
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171 views
Which Is Correct: exact date or exact dates? [closed]
Is it correct to make the word "date" plural or leave it singular in phrase below:
Enter the exact date you started and finished each employment.
or
Enter the exact dates you started and ...
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1answer
73 views
If you have a collection of something, is the something writen in plural? [closed]
A collection like in:
A list of users
A group of cities
When attaching this as we do in software development to name variables, should it be named
userList vs usersList
cityGroup vs citiesGroup
...
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1answer
38 views
Singular or Plural in conjunction with OR condition that could include one or more objects [duplicate]
Which one is accurate?
...when one or two individuals do not have [an ID] or [IDs]
another example:
...this is the case when one or two students [are] or [is] missing
Theoretically, if one ...
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1answer
68 views
“Architecture”: Countable or Uncountable
Cambridge Dictionary lists "architecture" as uncountable noun.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/architecture
noun [ U ]
Thus, it shouldn't take indefinite article; it shouldn't ...
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1answer
38 views
Plural or singular verb when plural subject is separated by an “and”? [duplicate]
A similar question is here, in which a comma is used in place of a conjunction like and.
I came across the following quotation of C. S. Lewis which reads,
“What you see and what you hear depends ...
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What is the plural of “+1”? [duplicate]
What is the best plural of "+1" in casual American English writing?
Possible ideas I've considered include:
+1s
+1's
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2answers
63 views
Pluralizing an irregular family name [duplicate]
I have a doubt about the pluralization of irregular family names. What if the family name is an irregular plural form like "mice"? Should you say "the Mice" or "the Mices"?
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1answer
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“The youth of today dream of high-quality educationS.” (Why) Is this sentence correct?
The youth of today dream of high-quality educationS.
Is this sentence correct? If so, then why?
A teacher I know often uses uncountable Nonouns such as knowledges, educations, sugars as plurals.
...
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1answer
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Appropriate Use of Possessive Plurals?
We have a debate on whether it should be "classes" or "classes'" in the sentence below. Your wisdom is appreciated.
Sentence:
This rebalancing of customer classes’ impacts on the system means there ...
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2answers
96 views
Why does the following sentence use the word 'knowledges'? [closed]
Consider the following question given in an English class for high school students in Myanmar:
Mg Mg has computer knowledge. Tun Tun has computer knowledge. (Given Answer word is Both _______).
We ...
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1answer
32 views
Stressing innovative studies has or have had? [duplicate]
I am unsure whether the sentence would make grammatical sense as has or have had. Is this sentence fragment considered singular or plural? Is stressing a gerund that makes it singular? Because ...
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1answer
78 views
Can Importance Be Different?
Importance is an uncountable noun, so one may shorten this sentence
We have external information and internal information. The importance of the external information and that of the internal ...
