# can units be plural

(If it isn't, then you're not using "number" correctly.) The plural form of physical units are always confusing me. Please take the, Correct usage would be to say "I bough a new fish pole...". Can Bitcoin be plural is decentralized. How to enlarge a mask in Photoshop non-destructively ("bleeding", "outer glow")? Why is the air inside an igloo warmer than its outside? Using a unit symbol which is never used in the plural form removes this ambiguity. Mamie. For hyphenated compound adjectives, which are in the singular: 3-meter long, a 2-week period. can "has been smoking" be used in this situation? This is what I would tell your colleague: one of the main points of using units is that we can use them throughout physics formulas and they serve as a check for coherence (even though I am a mathematician, I cringe when I see physics' examples in math books that remove the units completely). Again, there are probably exceptions. Unit symbols are mathematical entities and not abbreviations. Simply put, units are inherently plural. It only takes a minute to sign up. However, people is an exception—it can be pluralized as peoples in some cases. If the members of a group act together as a unit or a whole, we use a singular verb. Five-metre square, five-metres square — which is correct, “the 10-years evolution show…” or “the 10-year evolution shows…”. If these nouns are acting as a unit, use a singular verb. Quantity, much like number, can be used for singular or plural nouns that you can count or measure. it is not acceptable to use the plural of unit symbols. The field of linguistic study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology.. If anyone writes $\mathrm{s}$ after $\mathrm{kg}$ it may give a plural sense but as well it may refer to second also. The way we determine how the collective noun should be used is to consider whether the members of the collective noun are considered as a single, whole unit or multiple individuals. rev 2021.1.15.38327, The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Physics Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site, Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us. In the Collins COBUILD English Grammar, there is a list the more frequent gerunds that have plural forms. Mass nouns are singular in form. Collective nouns can either be plural or singular. The bill was 1.15 dollars. Common examples are: groceries, arms, remains, goods, customs, clothes, thanks, regards, police … Using a unit symbol which is never used in the plural form removes this ambiguity. New for fall 2017! This Singular and plural nouns unit can be used as a supplement for any program, or it can stand alone. Examples But it is 3 times, should it be 3 meters? Simply put, units are inherently plural. Localized units provide more natural ways of expressing unit phrases that vary in plural form, such as "1 hour" vs "2 hours". Therefore, when recording measurements, I think that it is acceptable to write “0.2 kilograms” and “0.95 seconds.”. For example we were talking about output rate of a boiler which is measured in $\mathrm{kg/hr}$. Pluralization of unit symbols must be avoided, or this notational error will occur. Examples: 0.25 liter (quantity is less than one) and 250 milliliters (quantity is more than one). :-)    ⁠. 3. We can use ‘some’ and ‘any‘ with plural countable nouns meaning ‘a bit, a quantity of‘. The word “which”, without any changes, can be used for singular or plural without changing anything . : When displaying two variables in a time domain plot, the X-axis is labeled with units of time. One Fish, Two Fish “Fish is an old word,” Stamper says. (Hu et al., 2012). I know that if … I’ve noticed, for example, that these change when I switch my phone language to Spanish. ), or unit names (meters, kilograms, seconds, amperes, volts, joules...). So you can’t say 1 furniture, 2 furnitures, 3 furnitures etc. There are things which I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, and what kind of pole is that? In British English, prefer the plural verb with collective nouns (the government are..., the committee are...), unless speaking of the group as a single unit. I have 0 apples and 1 orange. Mass nouns only have one form: e.g. In English, plural forms of a noun are normally formed by adding "-s" or "-es" to the end of the singular form of the word (for example, cars, boxes).In Hebrew, nouns are made plural by adding or to the end of a singular noun. Dollars is a confusing example because we don't usually say "0.5 dollars". ... cannot can’t combine with an indefinite article-a or an- and cannot be modified by a numeral without specifying a unit of measurement. No; feet/foot is a special case. Plural uncountables. Hebrew Plural Nouns Like English, Hebrew nouns can be either singular or plural in number. @Ciwee: Yes, I am sure. Symbols for units are always written in roman (upright) type, irrespective of the type used in the rest of the text. Others, such as Bryan Garner, hold that any number of people can be referred to as troops, so long as there are at least two. What's the word for someone who awkwardly defends/sides with/supports their bosses, in vain attempt of getting their favour? In this case, although the ‘s’ is not present in the plural term ‘nuclei,’ the presence of the ‘s’ signifies to the reader that the abbreviation is meant to be plural: [W]e analyzed [multi-unit neural activity] of the SCNs of 15 adult C57BL6 mice. In more general, commonly used, contexts, the plural form will also be unity. Units: Names of units are made plural only when the numerical value that precedes them is more than one. —AP Stylebook Online, 2016 This is why mass nouns are also called uncountable nouns. Moreover if anyone argues that this is acceptable in some cases (like $\mathrm{kgs/hr}$) then what would be the yard stick to find out accepted cases? "$\mathrm{hr}$" has its use in mainstream scientific and academic literature. Plural for a subdivision of a larger military grouping. For instance, the SI unit for time is seconds, the SI unit for mass is kilograms, and so forth. Marking chains permanently for later identification. Occasionally, a plural form can pull double duty as the singular form (or vice versa), as has happened with the word "data". The followings are my suggestions. Plural unit words of distance. Plural uncountables. When you write that a length is $75\,\rm metre$ or $75\,\rm m$ you are really write that your length is seventy five times bigger than a length of $1\,\rm metre$ or $1\,\rm m$ ie $75 \times (1\,\rm metre)$ or $75 \times (1\,\rm m)$. Whenever you qualify a group of something like a single unit, collective nouns are used singularly. In this case, as in many cases with the English language, one shouldn't try to use too much logic. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Common examples are: groceries, arms, remains, goods, customs, clothes, thanks, regards, police etc. Why would one say "a two week period" instead of "a two weeks period"? For instance can we add $\mathrm{s}$ in $\mathrm{m/s}$ or $\mathrm{km/hr}$ like $\mathrm{ms/s}$ or $\mathrm{kms/hr}$? Plural unit words of distance. Localized Units. Some uncountable nouns are plural. ( we can also say that if we or speakers want to emphasize the group as a … They have no singular forms with the same meaning, and cannot be used with numbers. “Scissors is this weird word that it looks plural and it can function as a singular word or a plural word,” Stamper says. in reference to various types of unities or a collection of unities. You will also often find "sec" for "s", even in scientific texts, which is absolutely incorrect! They are not used in the singular, or they have a different meaning in the singular. $$r=\frac{2\,\mathrm{kgs}}{1\frac{\,\mathrm{kg}}{\mathrm{h}}}=2\,\mathrm{h}, Most symbols are lowercased; exceptions are those that stand for units derived from proper names (A for ampere, etc.) Sentence subjects that have multiple nouns connected by and that refer to a singular thing require singular verbs. In 1 John 4:18, does "because fear hath punishment" mean, "He who fears will be punished"? If the focus of your sentence is on multiple units, use a plural verb. There is a small group of nouns that exist only in the plural form, for example:. For instance, the SI unit for time is seconds, the SI unit for mass is kilograms, and so forth. Symbols: Symbols for units are never pluralized. The bill was 1 dollar and some change. Such as this thread and the other links those have been referred there (some leads to English.SE). What is the name of this type of program optimization where two loops operating over common data are combined into a single loop? improper: l = 75 cms. These words are called “mass nouns,” that is, nouns that don’t have a plural form in English and can’t be used in plural or with plural verbs. ... cannot can’t combine with an indefinite article-a or an- and cannot be modified by a numeral without specifying a unit … [from 16th c.]quotations ▼ 1.1. I have changed a sentence from (a) For aerial A and aerial B the masts were moved within 2 feet of the park boundary, due to a shift in position of each solar panel/recorder unit, and so in these two cases the output cables extend beyond the 100 ft boundary. If the decimal value is between 1 and -1 (inclusive), then the value is singular. cubic centimetres? Pluralization of currencies like the baht and the ringgit. Don't forget that currencies are a special case. Unit nouns have two forms, singular and plural: e.g. ; We cannot use them with numbers. Pluralization rule for “five-year-old children”, “20 pound note”, “10 mile run”. How to enlarge a mask in Photoshop non-destructively ("bleeding", "outer glow")? 1570, John Dee, in H. Billingsley (trans.) @Farcher: Actually it would be far more common to refer to "a six foot man" than "*a six feet man" (which most people would consider wrong); also "six foot four" (meaning 6'4") is used rather than "*six feet four" (but, confusingly, "six feet four inches" is correct!). Nouns in English grammar can be either countable or uncountable.Countable nouns refer to individual things and we can use them in the singular or plural (e.g. My senior said that it is okay if anyone writes \mathrm{kgs/hr}. Leading Radical Renewal. money). 3. For unit values more than 1 or less than -1 the plural of the unit is used and a singular unit is used for values between 1 and -1. at the end of a sentence. As a general rule, when you join subjects with the conjunction and, you form a plural subject, which requires a plural verb. Prenominally, the phrase will not show plural marking, while elsewhere it will have the normal plural marking, as appropriate. For example, 250 mm = 250 millimeters, NOT 250 mms. Be aware that irregular plural nouns cannot be made plural again; that is, you cannot have childrens or feets. According to the International System of Units (SI). Nouns like this include: trousers, jeans, glasses, savings, thanks, steps, stairs, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits. Does a vice president retain their tie breaking vote in the senate during an impeachment trial if it is the vice president being impeached? Mass nouns are singular in form. Now you want to calculate r, and in a particular measurement/problem, a is 2 kilogram, and b is 1 kilogram per hour. Do I keep my daughter's Russian vocabulary small or not? Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange! I am a little bit confused about using units in English, sometimes I hear that people use singular units for plural things, sometimes they use plural ones. One with a length of ten feet. site design / logo © 2021 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. There’s a related question on English Stack Exchange with this answer: In Standard English, this crucially depends on whether the phrase is Unlike singular countable nouns, plural countable nouns can be used alone: I like bananas. What city is this on the Apple TV screensaver? A [small/large] quantity of weapons were seized - here 'A quantity of' equates to 'they' but if we drop the 'of + noun' we are talking about the 'quantity' which is singular: A quantity was seized A common example is the use of the plural with 'a number of': For example, in the sentence, Skiing is my favorite winter activity., skiing is always singular and can not be counted. @psmears Thank you for your comment. The … Start studying UNIT 1: PLURAL NOUNS (1-4). Stack Exchange network consists of 176 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Uncountable nouns, also known as mass nouns, refer to things we consider a whole or mass and cannot be counted (e.g. 5 years ago. Should I use the singular or plural verb in mathematical formulae (“Two and two make/makes four”)? Why is the country conjuror referred to as a "white wizard"? Group nouns can be given plural forms to mean two or more units and, thus, take a plural … Also keep in mind that some nouns, such as police, are always plural. Or Which pets do you like best? (Issue 6) Be aware that collective nouns can be singular or plural. Answer The noun unity can be countable or uncountable. The main function takes a number and unit name (|quantity=) and an optional language code (|lang=) from the frame. It’s hideous and mathematically absurd, but not absolutely impermissible. Just like you can say a bushel of apples or a bag of coins.. It depends on the context of the sentence. Exceptions should not be made for straightforward derived units formed from other units, whether SI … proper: l = 75 cm improper: l = 75 cms. Why is it “two column” and not “two columns”? 1\frac{ms}{h}=1\frac{ms}{3600s}=\frac{1}{3600}m. "A Number" Can be Singular When "a number" refers to the number symbols (i.e., not letters), it can be singular. Can WHO take a plural verb? Only 1, if it's 1.00001 then it's plural again. Preparing for metric dominance: alternatives to idioms using imperial units. An abbreviation such as, worse yet: meters divided by a time unit gives a wrong result.$$ @Farcher: Probably a good idea, rather than getting bogged down in all the different variations :-), Usage of singular or plural SI base units when written in both symbol as well as name [closed], The NIST Guide for the Use of the International System of Units, Usage of singular or plural SI base units when written in both symbol as well as name, chemistry.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2978/7951, related question on English Stack Exchange, Conversion of the units BeV (US) and GeV (UN), Square bracket notation for dimensions and units: usage and conventions. We can hardly expect governments—even ostensibly democratic ones—that have been coopted by their private sectors or overwhelmed by the forces of corporate globalization to take the lead in initiating radical renewal. We use ‘some’ in affirmative sentences and ‘any’ in negative sentences and questions: I’d like some bananas, please. A morpheme is not necessarily the same as a word.The main difference between a morpheme and a word is that a morpheme sometimes does not stand alone, but a word, by definition, always stands alone. I really think that it depends where you live and the word order and thus have got rid of the reference to foot and feet in my answer. money. A standard unit used to express the size, amount, or degree of something. rev 2021.1.15.38327, The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, English Language & Usage Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site, Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us. Some nouns have a fixed plural form and take a plural verb. If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You wouldn't say "I've found a ruler eighteen inch long!" However this is not the end of the story as the NPL in the UK recommends the following for the unit name. I asked some senior students, some of them said we need to use plural form of units but some said units are always singular. Does installing mysql-server include mysql-client as well? Nouns ending in -f or -fe usually change that to -ves in the plural. After 1946 the British Government treated the four territorial divisions as a single unit. The bill was 0 dollars and 86 cents. What does a faster storage device affect? So this is a group of nouns that can be singular or plural depending on what you want to say about them. Some uncountable nouns are plural. You should probably read. The use of segments in non-relocating assemblers. What would cause a culture to keep a distinct weapon for centuries? 2: The following statements express main points. You cannot say a units. @BrianCarlton bough, as in the noun bough? This cute, camping and forest animal-themed For example: Which cookie would you like? Can a singular noun be used to represent a category of things in a sentence subject? The bill was 1 dollar and 1 cent. The singular form, medium, is rarely used.) I was in a conversation with my senior engineer where he kept on insisting that we can use plural when we write down any unit. In addition to the other answers that point out that the language of the SI unit standards prohibits pluralization of unit symbols, I'll also point out that adding the "s" to any unit is misleading, since "s" is a unit symbol itself (for seconds). In Standard English, this crucially depends on whether the phrase is prenominal or not. (But not: Three troops were injured.) (distance) Two hundred dollars seems a lot to spend on a dress. Adding “-ves” vs. “-s” With some nouns that end in “-f,” “-fe,” or “-lf,” we replace the endings with “-ves” to make them plural. Physics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for active researchers, academics and students of physics. the length of the laser is $5\ \mathrm{m}$ but not: the length of the laser is five meters. This is at variance of NIST in the USA which states. (time) Indefinite pronouns You can say 1 chair, 2 chairs, 3 chairs etc. As I wrote before, this guideline is accurate in most cases. proper: l = 75 cm [from 16th c.] 1570, John Dee, in H. Billingsley (trans.) Explain for kids — Why isn't Northern Ireland demanding a stay/leave referendum like Scotland? the role of the family unit … I’m not going to touch this one with a ten foot pole! 10. Are you sure you should use plural even refering to less-than-one numbers? Generally, we can say that collective nouns can be singular or plural. The real noun is something like "a group of 10 units that remain constant." English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. Sometimes we write statements of type like: 1: Please check the following sentences. My trousers are dirty. Indeed, all collective nouns are usually treated as singular in American English. See the NIST check list for a good concise reference about units in general. Why a sign of gradient (plus or minus) is not enough for finding a steepest ascend? Is bitcoin.org or bitcoincore.org the one to trust? There is The NIST Guide for the Use of the International System of Units, which has this example. Number, we define, to be, a certayne Mathematicall Sũme, of Vnit… unit (plural units) (mathematics) Oneness, singularity, seen as a component of a whole number; a magnitude of one. It will find use when the quantity is returned from Wikidata, so that the numerical value is not yet known. On a page here and there, the editor changed units of measurement from plural to singular, stating that if the value is greater than 1 or less than -1, then the unit should be plural. No periods are used after any of the SI symbols for units, and the same symbols are used for both the singular and the plural. Money, time, and measurements can be plural or singular. The singular is obviously foot, and the plural is usually feet, but when you are using it as a compound modifier, you use the singular. time: Plural unit words of distance, money, and time. When I searched for this topic I couldn't come to any conclusive decision. The only time this doesn't hold true is if the stated quantity is 1. (time) Indefinite pronouns So I would vote not to close this, which is a better written question, as a duplicate of the one you linked. Generic appellation for objects. Group nouns can be considered as individual members within a single unit and, thus, take a plural verb. "A total of 0.0606 moles of NaOH was" or "were"? site design / logo © 2021 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. 2. While they cannot express all the intricacies of natural languages, the plural forms allow for more natural phrasing than constructions like "1 hour(s)". What does a faster storage device affect? Welcome to English Language and Usage. How can the word you be a plural? Just like you can say a bushel of apples or a bag of coins. For example, 1 meter is 1 meter. Can the plural of following be used as in the following sentence? The bill was one dollar and 15 cents. Correct usage would be to say, "ten feet long.". It depends on the context of the sentence. It returns the quantity with proper plural units in the given language, if it can. How to explain why we need proofs to someone who has no experience in mathematical thinking? Wouldn't it be 0.50 dollar? as well as to the international standard ISO/IEC 80000 Quantities and units. The plural sector, however, has a special role to play in the process of renewing society.