Search results for 'tag:Singular nouns tag:Difference between' matching tags 'Singular nouns' and 'Difference between'

Re: Difference between using much and many

CalifJim — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:51:18 GMT

Guest
Please send me the grammar rule for using much and many in sentences and the reasons behind this usage.

much is used with singular nouns. much butter, much water, not much information, not much hope, Much of it is ...

many is used with plural nouns. many cars, many letters, not many horses, not many details, Many of them are ...

There is no particular reason behind the usage. It's just a convention of English grammar.

I don't think it's necessary to consider whether a noun is countable; the singular-plural rule is sufficient because an uncountable can't be used in the plural anyway.

Re: There is/are a infinity

MrPedantic — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:24:10 GMT

Hello HT,

Hoa Thai wrote:

My old note stated: 'a number of ' is plural and 'the number of' is singular.
We can apply this logic of yours to 'a number of ' too, right?

1. ?There is a number of reasons why my post may be misleading.

2. There are a number of reasons why my post may be misleading.

Though I do often encounter "a number of" + singular verb, it tends to ring a little oddly to me.

I think the difference between "there is a number of" and "there is an infinity of" may be that in that latter case, it sometimes makes sense to shift the focus to "infinity"; whereas in the former case, it seldom makes sense to shift the focus to "number". (In other words, it may be significant that there is an "infinity" of X; but that there is a "number" of Y goes without saying.)

That said, many people do use a singular verb with "a number of", on the grounds that a singular noun requires a singular verb!

All the best,

MrP

Re: Difference between sale and sales

Hoa Thai — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 09:04:35 GMT

Hi Osee,

Perhaps, I added more confussion than I wanted to when I commented about 'Student Math-Club'.

It is not the mode (singular vs. plural) that carries the meaning of belonging vs. that of responsibility. For example, a product manager (singular noun acting as an adjective) is responsible for one product line. It is the meaning / idea / message that an entity (person / group / organization / etc...) wants to convey. Therefore, you might find Teacher Union and Teachers Union are used in the names of many organizations.

Now, back to your comment about the meaning of Teachers Union to carry the responsibility connotation, using my logic; then I must say that my explanation was poorly presented and became an un-intended logic. So what is the difference between the two naming styles? I would venture to interpret that:
- Teacher Union is an organization for teachers without any distinction what sort of teachers they are.
- Teachers Union is an organization in which teachers could be classified into various groups.
In short, I feel the name Teachers Union has a grander connotation than that of Teacher Union, just like Sales Engineer convey bigger image than Sale Engineer. More importantly, I would like emphasize that the modifier in a compound noun could be either singular or plural. Semantically, the use of one mode might prevail over the other, but I don't know any grammar rule preventing us from using either mode.

Comments anyone?

Thanks,
Hoa Thai

P.S. As an ESL learner, I would appreciate if you all can help me refine my writings. I come to this site for learning and sharing. I believe that I can improve my skills quicker when you point out my mistakes. If you do feel that your help might de-focus the issue, please email me. Thanks in advance.

Re: Difference between sale and sales

Osee — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 05:58:04 GMT

But how about "teacherS unions" in the following sentence from Voice of American (http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2007-09/2007-09-26-voa2.cfm)?

Attempts at merit pay for American teachers have failed in many cases because of resistance from teachers unions or budget cuts.

By Hoa Thai's logic below, it should be interpreted as the unions are responsible for teachers, right? But it could be possible that there exists a union consisting of teachers for communication of teaching skills or other purposes, so for such a union, it's name should be teacher union instead of teacherS union?

Hoa Thai wrote:
Hello,

I believe that we have been talking about compound noun, in which the preceded word could be singular or plural and acts as an adjective. I also believe that it is up to people, who want to convey their message / idea, to sensibly use whatever mode they want. Let us look at the compound nouns in questions, 'sale engineer' vs. 'sales engineer', to see if we can get their messages.

Sales Engineer - An engineer who is responsible for answering technical questions to sales department and clients. The key-idea is responsibility. Not often, a company or an engineer wants to convey a message to other people that s/he is responsible for one single item / product / client! Using singular noun seems to reduce his / her image; and no company wants to give such a title to their employees and in turn conveys poor company's image. Thus, 'sales engineer' is better than 'sale engineer' in that sense. However, 'sale engineer' should be okay if one wants to be playful or really has a good reason to express such an idea. To show the legitimacy of using either singular or plural noun as an adjective in the responsibile for meaning one more time, here are a few examples:

- Service vs. Services: UNICCO Service Company vs. BJ Services Company
- Product vs. Products: Colder Product Company vs. P&G Products Company, Product Manager vs. Products Manager

How about 'Student Math-Club' and 'Students Math-Club'?
Student Math-Club - A club organized for the students to study math. Here, the key-idea is not about responsibility but belonging (i.e., Students' Math-Club). Thus, it is more natural to use singular mode (less bearing and of course w/ fewer characters).

I hope that my two cents do not confuse the issue.
Best Regards,
Hoa Thai

Re: Difference between sale and sales

Hoa Thai — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 01:39:12 GMT

Hello,

I believe that we have been talking about compound noun, in which the preceded word could be singular or plural and acts as an adjective. I also believe that it is up to people, who want to convey their message / idea, to sensibly use whatever mode they want. Let us look at the compound nouns in questions, 'sale engineer' vs. 'sales engineer', to see if we can get their messages.

Sales Engineer - An engineer who is responsible for answering technical questions to sales department and clients. The key-idea is responsibility. Not often, a company or an engineer wants to convey a message to other people that s/he is responsible for one single item / product / client! Using singular noun seems to reduce his / her image; and no company wants to give such a title to their employees and in turn conveys poor company's image. Thus, 'sales engineer' is better than 'sale engineer' in that sense. However, 'sale engineer' should be okay if one wants to be playful or really has a good reason to express such an idea. To show the legitimacy of using either singular or plural noun as an adjective in the responsibile for meaning one more time, here are a few examples:

- Service vs. Services: UNICCO Service Company vs. BJ Services Company
- Product vs. Products: Colder Product Company vs. P&G Products Company, Product Manager vs. Products Manager

How about 'Student Math-Club' and 'Students Math-Club'?
Student Math-Club - A club organized for the students to study math. Here, the key-idea is not about responsibility but belonging (i.e., Students' Math-Club). Thus, it is more natural to use singular mode (less bearing and of course w/ fewer characters).

I hope that my two cents do not confuse the issue.
Best Regards,
Hoa Thai

Re: Difference between aggregate and collective nouns

Goodman — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 20:24:13 GMT

Obviously, depending on where we learned English, it has some bearing on our understanding toward some of the most common debated questions. To validate my own understanding, I did some searching and came to a conclusion, In the US, some experts agree that either singular or plural is acceptable, but must be consistently used in the context. However, the majority considers âPoliceâ as plural. In contrast, it seems that in Europe âpoliceâ is used as a singular noun. I learned something todayâ¦..

House Style Guide

The singular form packs a greater punch, but both are correct. ... Form plural possessives by adding an apostrophe to plural nouns ending in "s" (appellees' ...
courts.state.ar.us/courts/rd_style6.html - 58k - Cached - Similar pages

Unit 5. Singular, plural, and collective nouns

Collective nouns can be used with singular or plural verbs. ... WARNING: "Police" is a plural noun, but does not end in "-s". The police were informed ...

The Grammar Doctor's Tip Archive Page 7

My dictionary doesn't indicate whether it considers it singular or plural, but I still treat it as singular. Note that "police" is always plural, as is ...
www.grammardoctor.com/archive10.htm - 39k - Cached - Similar pages

Online Style Guide - P - Online Specials - Times Online
Whether singular or plural, always maintain consistency within a story ... Police Complaints Authority was replaced (April 2004) by the Independent Police ...
www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2941-576,00.html - Similar pages

[PDF] TSHIVENDA TSHIVENDA
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
singular and plural, under one number, while others prefer the. international numbering. ... In less than ten years, the South African Police Service has ...

a singular noun and a countable noun

Believer — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 02:53:59 GMT

P/S tell me what is the difference between a singular noun and a countable noun?

I think the category of the singular noun encompasses/includes the elements of countable nouns.

Re: kind and kinds

rishonly — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 17:24:14 GMT

Anonymous wrote:

Hi,

I know that you have in the past covered this area of grammar many times but let me ask you again for personal understanding. What is the difference between the two:

What kind of movies do you like?

What kinds of movies do you like?

My two cents:

(Type/kind/sort) of + <<singular noun>>

(Types/kinds/sorts) of + <<plural noun>>

Re: Difference between American and British English

YoungCalifornian — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 08:57:41 GMT

Uh, no offense but their are a whole lot of misconceptions about American English in this thread. The "fag" thing has already been pointed out, so I'll let that one be.

"The main difference between British English and American English is that in the former there is perfect grammar even in the spoken form. But in the latter, there is no grammar at all and everybody can speak as they like. "

Well I know that Americans are generally less strict about the rules of grammar, but that doesn't mean that there are no rules. In reality, both English variants have pretty much the same grammar rules, Americans are just less formal in their speech. One of the few true differences (not tendencies) that exists between the two is the use of the verb "to be" in regards to collective nouns. For instance, an American would say, "The Austrian ski team is the best I've ever seen," where a Brit would say, "The Austrian ski team are the best I've ever seen." The American views the team as a singular noun, while the Brit views the team as a plural noun.

I've also seen in mentioned frequently (not just here) that in America we say "cab" where the British say "taxi" and "Fall" where the British say "Autumn." This isn't true, at least in regards to American English. In fact, American use both "taxi" and "cab" as well as "Fall" and "Autumn" interchangably. You would be just as likely to hear one as the other.