I have come across this sentence in a CNN report.  "We can't smell them because we have a measly five million sensors in our noses, but dogs have up to 300 million sensors in their noses."  "...a measly five million sensors..." ?  When can we use the article "a" before a plural noun? Could this be a mistake?
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The indefinite article a(n), derives from the old English word an meaning "one". Generally this word only occurs in determiner function before noun phrases which are singular. However, there seem to be some cases where this determiner occurs before plural noun phrases. I say that, but actually these noun phrase seem so bizarre to me, in terms of their structure, that I'm not sure they're definitely noun phrases at all. Here are some examples:   a full three months before we left an amazing two days an awkward ten minutes   Ignoring the article here for a moment, these noun phrases are odd because the adjective is occurring before the numeral. We would normally expect to see:   three full months two amazing days ten awkward minutes   Even given the oddness of the word order in the original phrases, I can see no reason why the normally singular indefinite article is licensed here.   Can anybody give an account of the syntactic structure of these phrases, and/or explain why the semantically singular article is able to be used with such phrases - even if they compulsorily trigger plural verb agreement?  Here is an example of one of these instances which seems to demand a plural verb:   An amazing two million people attend every year. *An amazing two million people attends every year. (ungrammatical)
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As a general rule, I learnt that when stringing together multiple nouns to form a noun phrase, the nouns acting as adjectives lose their ending "s", even if they carry a plural meaning.  For example:   asset inventory (an inventory of many assets) sample collection (a collection of samples) system logs (multiple logs of multiple systems)   Now my question is: if the nouns on the left always lose their s (do they?), how can I distinguish when the noun is actually singular or plural?  See the following examples:   risk analysis (how can I tell apart if the analysis is of a single risk or multiple risks?) system log (is it the log of a single or multiple systems ? ) vulnerability assessment (am I assessing a single vulnerability or more than one?)   and so on...  How can I avoid the ambiguity that derives from this kind of noun phrases?
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Can anyone please help and tell me if this sentence is correct?  &quot;A significant amount of zombies were detected in your city.&quot;  In my opinion it should be &quot;A significant amount of zombies was detected in your city.&quot; because &quot;amount&quot; should be in agreement with &quot;was&quot; even though amount usually refers to something plural. Are both (was and were) acceptable in this case? Edit1: Yes, &quot;number&quot; would be the correct one in this case. So allow me to ask one more thing.  &quot;A significant amount of purchases were detected...&quot;  Does the use of &quot;number&quot; apply in this case also? As purchase is not exactly a thing/person. And if no, is it correct to say &quot;A significant amount of purchases were detected...&quot;? Edit2: So, please tell me what is the correct phrasing?  &quot;A significant amount of purchases were detected...&quot; &quot;A significant amount of purchases was detected...&quot;  Or, since purchases are countable, is the use of &quot;number&quot; instead of &quot;amount&quot; correct here, as in:  &quot;A significant number of purchases were detected...&quot; &quot;A significant number of purchases was detected...&quot;  Or would amount be correct since a purchase involves money and it refers to the amount of money? Would greatly appreciate an answer, and if possible a detailed explanation.
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I've been reading a Wikipedia article that describes the symptoms of rabies in various species, and I want to add a clarification note about which species (or species) a specific paragraph refers to. How can I make it clear that I'm referring either to the singular or plural of the word "species" when the singular of this word is the same as its plural? "Species or species" is the only grammatically correct way that I can think of, but it seems redundant and confusing. Is there any better way to contrast the singular of "species" from the plural of "species"?
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Fifty miles is a long way to ride a motorbike.   Why use is with miles which looks like a plural noun? Can you explain me what the rule is?
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I was reading about articles in Wren &amp; Martin and found the following explanation:  1)Use the definite article when a singular noun is meant to express a whole class.       The cow is a useful animal     [Or we can say, "cows" are useful animals]  2)Use the indefinite article in the sense of "any" to single out an individual as the     representative of a class; as,       A cow is a useful animal.   Can you please explain me the difference between 1 and 2.    I also found a given below sentence in wren &amp; martyn's exercise.        __ lion is ___ king of beasts   As per above given explanation of definite and indefinite article, I am not sure which one should be correct: "The lion" or "A lion", or both are correct.  Could you please help me understand the difference better.
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I was doing 'articles' exercise on the web. I found this sentence,     Ben has a terrible headache.   Why 'a' is used here. The terrible headache is not a countable noun. Thus, 'a' should not be used here. I feel the correct sentence is "Ben has terrible headache." However, the correct answer is the following: "Ben has a terrible headache."  I am confused. Please do help me.   Can I say, "I had headache."?
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While attempting to answer  @ProgramFox has been trying to come up with an example of a noun with no plural.   The best I've come up with is egotism and Judaism.  ()  Some of the contenders I've already shot down are air, water, and money.  (Airs, waters, and monies are all legitimate plurals.)  My question is, a) Do my two examples have actual plurals?  b) Are there any other non-ism nouns that don't have a plural?
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In the construction "one of the [plural noun] who ...", should the verb agree with "one" or "[plural noun]"?   For example, which of the two following sentences is grammatically correct? Or are both acceptable?        She was one of the several children who was sold at the auction    She was one of the several children who were sold at the auction.
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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. Which one is correct?   3 meter(s) long? during a 2 week(s) period? 0.5 dollar(s)
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Generally, one doesn't use the indefinite article with a noun because it's plural, but sometimes you get nouns where, for some reason, the indefinite article isn't used even though the noun is singular.  I would never say 'a software', though it seems to be a singular noun, and I've heard it said (though it sounds wrong).  Instead, we say 'some software' or 'a piece of software' (the latter implying that software is singular), so why does 'a software' sound wrong?  EDIT: I really meant to ask why we don't consider software singular.  Maybe I should have asked, 'why is software a mass noun?'
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I have a question about using the phrase "some kind of _".  Is it incorrect to say "some kind of + plural noun"?     For example, is it wrong to say "are these rock-like things some kind of chocolates?"   I didn't use "kinds" and that kind of adds to my question. Is "kind" always plural, like "some kinds of chocolates"? Because although I'm using "some", it feels like "kind" shouldn't be a countable noun.  Anyway, I don't think I've heard of "some kind of + plural", but I think it makes more sense then using singular, since I think chocolates are countable. Please help!
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Are there any questions I should be asking?   Is there any articles available on the subject?   My instinct is that in the two questions above, it should be 'are' as the subjects of the sentences (questions/articles) are plural.  However I also recall being told that the singular 'is' is valid here too, and of course see it very often in usage online, and this has left me a bit unsure.  Update: I have stumbled upon the reason for the confusion.     Is there any water?   Are there any questions?   The sentence structure is the same but of course water is not plural, although it is not singular either.
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According to my knowledge, the indefinite article 'a' must never be used before a proper noun. But I recently heard the English sentence: "Every civilian should be a Mahatma Gandhi to his society".  As per my knowledge, "Mahatma Gandhi" is a proper noun here and 'a' is the article.   Believing the speaker to have a good grasp of English, I now have this doubt: are there any occasions where it is proper to have an indefinite article before a proper noun?  Please advise me.
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I learned in class that:  a. A tiger is a dangerous animal. b. Tigers are dangerous animals. c. The tiger is a dangerous animal.  These three sentences are used generically. But I just saw:   The tiger is in danger of becoming extinct. Tigers are in danger of becoming extinct. A tiger is in danger of becoming extinct.   the previous sentences and number '1' and '2' are used generically but example 3. is not. Is there anyone who can tell me why the latter examples are different from the former ones?  Also, is there any difference in meaning depending on the article?
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Can't we ask instead, Have you ever had a surgery? Is surgery a countable noun? I guess we can speak of surgeries in the plural form. Why should we use zero article in this sentence?  Update: What about the phrase, You will not be emperor.  is a countable noun according to the Cambridge dictionary. Why should we use zero article in this case?
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I've been doing proofreading on a beta site and there appears to be a typo. Is there any usage of "many a times" that is correct, or is it always wrong to apply a singular "a" to a plural noun?