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 #2 (permalink) Mon May 25, 2009 16:54 pm Why do you use plural for units of measurement, while you don't for units of |
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Numerals are never used to show plurality. ( The 60's, the 70's etc., are exceptions.)
The plurality applies to the weight, distance, liquid quantity.
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 Kitosdad
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| #3 (permalink) Tue May 26, 2009 20:23 pm Why do you use plural for units of measurement, while you don't for units of numb |
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Hi, Kitosdad. You said, "Numerals are never used to show plurality. The plurality applies to the weight, distance, liquid quantity."
－Is that because Numerals are abstract and imaginary, and weight, distance, liquid quantity are concrete? Or is it merely a conventional rule? |
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Magic Dragon
I'm new here and I like it ;-)
Joined: 03 May 2009
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| #4 (permalink) Wed May 27, 2009 10:15 am Why do you use plural for units of measurement, while you don't for units of numb |
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| Magic Dragon wrote: |
I'd appreciate it if someone would answer my question. Thanks in advance.
You say "two hundred" and "ten hundred", and "two meters" and "ten gallons".
Why do you use plural for units of measurement, while you don't for units of number? |
To answer your question, the reason we don't pluralize numbers as adjectives (one pint, 10 gallons, six miles), is that you can't pluralize an adjective.
In your example, 'two' and 'ten' are adjectives, while 'meters' and 'gallons' are nouns. You can pluralize a noun.
| Magic Dragon wrote: |
Hi, Kitosdad. You said, "Numerals are never used to show plurality. The plurality applies to the weight, distance, liquid quantity."
－Is that because Numerals are abstract and imaginary, and weight, distance, liquid quantity are concrete? Or is it merely a conventional rule? |
It has nothing to do with concrete and abstract. It has to do with parts of speech, namely adjectives versus nouns, as described above.
The usage of plurals in number is permissible, when the number is being used as a noun. However, we generally only use them on decimal placeholders, although in rarer cases we can consider the plurals of integers.
Consider the following collocations.
"I've tried dozens of times to get his attention."
"The death toll was in the tens of thousands."
"There are hundreds of reasons not to do that."
"The company lost millions of dollars in profit."
"There are thousands of ants in my kitchen."
"I have a full house, twos over sixes."
The above examples may look like pluralized numbers, but those numbers (thousands, millions, dozens, hundreds) are actually being used as nouns, not adjectives.
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Skrej
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| #5 (permalink) Wed May 27, 2009 11:51 am Why do you use plural for units of measurement, while you don't for units of numb |
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Hi, Skrei. I see your idea very much. But there is one thing I'm not so sure of. How about the following sentence?
"What's the number of students from that country?" "It's over 2 hundred."
Here it seems 2 hundred is used as a noun.
Can we pluralize number when we are only asked a number and answer it, even though the number is a noun? |
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Magic Dragon
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