Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2015 October 14

= October 14 =

What exactly does the annotation "plural but singular or plural in construction" mean in a dictionary definition?
What exactly does the annotation "plural but singular or plural in construction" mean in a dictionary definition? --134.242.92.2 (talk) 16:58, 14 October 2015 (UTC)
 * It would be much easier to give you a clear explanation if you gave us the (or a) word whose dictionary definition includes this annotation. [The poster formerly known as 8781.230.195} 185.74.232.130 (talk) 17:02, 14 October 2015 (UTC)


 * Statistics. --134.242.92.2 (talk) 17:30, 14 October 2015 (UTC)


 * See explanation here. Fut.Perf. ☼ 17:08, 14 October 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I didn't realize "construction" is about construing, not constructing. --134.242.92.2 (talk) 17:30, 14 October 2015 (UTC)
 * It is about construing, but it's also about constructing, as in the construction of sentences. It does muddy the issue that both terms come from the same Latin root . "Robotics" is a similar example. It is plural in form, but acts as a singular in constructions. E.g. "The field of robotics is growing rapidly." SemanticMantis (talk) 18:22, 14 October 2015 (UTC)
 * I'd have construed that as a singular verb anyway ("field ... is growing"), but I agree that "Robotics is a rapidly growing field." StevenJ81 (talk) 18:43, 14 October 2015 (UTC)
 * (Oops, thanks for correcting my flawed example :) SemanticMantis (talk) 21:01, 14 October 2015 (UTC)


 * In the case of statistics, there are two possible meanings: 1) the discipline or field of statistics, which typically takes a singular verb, 2) more than one statistic, or number describing collected data. If you are referring to more than one such number, then you need a plural verb.  Here are examples: 1) "Statistics is my favorite course."  "Statistics relies heavily on probability."  BUT 2) "These statistics show that the policy is a failure."  "The statistics support my argument."  Marco polo (talk) 18:55, 14 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Not only words ending with "cs" (like mathematics, robotics etc.), but also words - ending with "ies" - and rhyming with "countries", like series, species, and the like. HOOTmag (talk) 07:03, 15 October 2015 (UTC)
 * If you list series, you may as well list sheep. (Some Latin words have –es in nominative singular and nominative/accusative plural.) —Tamfang (talk) 21:47, 17 October 2015 (UTC)
 * I've only listed words which rhyme with regular plural-words and which end with letters with which plural-words usually end. Note that Marco Polo indicated the letters "cs" (as in robotics), so I added the letters "ies" (as in series, species). However, "sheep" does not rhyme with any other plural-word, and does not end with any letters with which plural-words usually end. HOOTmag (talk) 11:25, 18 October 2015 (UTC)

The dictionaries I usually use don't say "plural but" like that. The OED, for example, says "with singular concord" or "with plural concord"; the RHU says "construed as singular" or "construed as plural". I think this approach is clearer. The only reason to say "plural but" is to convey the idea that it's etymologically a plural, and I don't think it's a clear way to say that. --174.88.134.156 (talk) 09:37, 15 October 2015 (UTC)