I need an explanation

I am Toan from Vietnam. So there's something in my english book I don't understand ( this book is published for all the students in my country).

"..... Communications? Without engineers there would be no television, no radio, no telephones, no telegraph lines, no cables....."

So the question is television, radio, and telephone are all countable nowns. Why is "telephones" with "s" and "television" without "s". I need an explanation. Thanks a lot

Hi Toan,

The words "television" and "radio" are sometimes used to mean the system of television, or radio broadcasting, rather than the TVs or radios themselves. "Telephone" is not used in this way - you have to say the "telephone system" or the "phone network".  The sentence could be written:

"there would be no system of television or radio, no telephones, no telegraph lines, no cables....." or, if you are referring to the items themselves.... "there would be no televisions, no radios, no telephones, ....."

Why are television and radio used in this way, but not telephone? Who knows? It is just the way the use of the words has developed over the last sixty years or so.

- Nick