Is the singular or plural form of a property required when describing an object which has a count of N for that property?  For example, a two-mode or a two-modes analog filter?
1008
Why are year, pound and mile in the singular form in the phrases below?   five-year-old children  20 pound note 10 mile run   Is that because they're acting as adjectives, which are always invariable in English?  Is it incorrect to say...   five-years-old children? 20 pounds note? 10 miles run?
49633
I'm wondering why I need to say scissors instead of just 'scissor'. Are there any rules about it?  I would think that I only have one scissor, meaning it would be singular and not plural. (That's at least how it is in my native language.)  This would only be one scissor in Danish.    Can anyone tell me why it needs to be plural?
55057
From using a number of programming languages and libraries I have noticed various terms used for the total number of elements in a collection.  The most common seem to be length, count, and size.  eg.  array.length vector.size() collection.count   Is there any preferred term to be used? Does it depend on what type of collection it is? ie. mutable/immutable  Is there a preference for it being a property instead of a method?
68948
I would like to ask how people who are familiar with English interpret these sentences regarding the nouns that can be both count and noncount nouns.  (1) I have to make more cake/cakes to offer a wide variety of bakery products for my own business.  (2) France is famously known for having more cheese/cheeses than there are days in the year.  My foreign teachers went for plural noun in (1), but they chose the bare form for (2). I have them chose only one form for each item. For me (I'm Thai), I just want some explanations because both items represent "a variety of sth", so why these two are treated differently.
2103
Possible Duplicates:             I'm wondering whether or not I should use a plural form noun with a collection name. For example, which one is correct, bookList or booksList (obviously they are variables in a programming language)?
7463
A friend wants to write,   There is no hardware to purchase, no additional software to install and no key fobs to worry about.   This is awkward because the verb "is" doesn't match up with the third item, which is plural and demands "There are" as the subject. However,    There is no hardware to purchase, no additional software to install and there are no key fobs to worry about.   sounds awkward as well.  Is there a good workaround for this problem where some list items are singular and some are plural, so they don't share a common verb?
7481
Is this the proper way to use two possessive nouns in a row?     I am going over to Lauren's parents' house this evening.   or     The store's manager's niece was quite attractive.   What about three?*     The United States Army's general's wife's dog is on the lamb, somebody stop it.   *Three seems both unrealistic, and in the specific example I used you could make a case for adding a fourth United State's Army's but I think that seems even more unrealistic.  Additionally, I would never write this in any sort of setting other than the purpose of knowing what the rules are.  Thanks in advance, I apologize in advance if this is duplicate
91481
This sentence was made as an example by my trainer:     Is the s-v-a in this sentence correct?           Two teaspoons of sugar IS more than enough.      According to the rule: The singular verb form is usually used for units of measurement.  But, is teaspoon not considered a partitive too?
49992
A relatively modern dictionary (I don’t know which one, because we’ve cut out the pages and used them as wallpaper in our bathroom, but I know it’s less than 20 years old) indicates that R’s is one correct pluralization of R, as is Rs, but whichever dictionary this is, it’s kind of a no-name brand, so I’m not sure I trust it.  I’ve always wondered what the best way was to pluralize single letters or numerals, like 2’s or 2s.  What’s correct?
40451
Sentences are:   "The rainforests are in danger." "Rainforests are in danger."  So in this case, I think that they are both correct sentences...but:  "Guitars are musical instruments."  "The guitars are musical instruments."  In this case, we are still making generic statements about a plural noun, but the second one sounds bizarre. This for a student. I'm not sure WHY it's awkward. Why do we opt for "The guitar is a musical instrument."  Thanks in advance :)
70087
What kind of verb, singular or plural, goes with phrases like "a record of [singular or plural noun]", "the use of", "the time of"? Does the choice depend on the following nouns (a record of nouns) or on the 'first' nouns (record, use, time)? Or do these phrases obey the rule of proximity (as does "a variety of")?  I have found different example sentences on the internet (source: newspapers or magazines) with different uses. What is correct?  Examples:   there were a record of other issues; there were a record of 28,000 runners; there was a record of these statements.
34134
When there are several cottages each with several tariffs (depending on the season), should the plural be "cottage tariffs" or "cottages tariffs"?  For context, this is to be a section title on a website renting out the cottages.  An explanation of the grammatical rules would be helpful.
71988
I often hear people saying what kind of [singular noun] rather than what kind of a [singular noun].  Are we not supposed to use an article (a) before noun?
67465
In English, the number 0 is treated as plural. It is then:   0 seconds 1 second    1.2 seconds   2 seconds     Shouldn't it be "nobody want to go there," instead of "nobody wants to go there"?  I also saw in TOEFL that "any __" should be used with a singular.  But I see it very common that it is a plural also.  Why is that?  (updated: example, "we don't have any apples any more" vs "If you get any apple, please let me know.")
11309
She must now sell two properties she owns or face an extra four years in jail.   As a rule of thumb, fours years do not go with "a" or "an". Why, in this case abover, 'an' is a must? Look at the following example:         The unions says it was expecting at least an extra 800,000 journeys during the Games.   The unions says it was expecting at least extra 800,000 journeys during the Games.      Usually, an or a is definitely not required before plural noun. But it seems I should choose Option (1) here. Why?  Anther example:      As a result of the expansion of the manufacturing plant, production capacity will increase by about 25 percent, and a further 85 permanent full-time jobs will be created in Huntington.
24254
I've been having an argument with a colleague about this sentence, could you please let me know which one of us is correct:     There are no shortage of applications for our product in this   space.   She is convinced that are should be replaced by is, and I think it should stand as it is. Thanks for your help!
38962
Whenever I design a database, I always wonder if there is a best way of naming an item in my database. Quite often I ask myself the following questions:   Should table names be plural? Should column names be singular? Should I prefix tables or columns? Should I use any case in naming items?   Are there any recommended guidelines out there for naming items in a database?