Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2017 October 2

= October 2 =

"A few" ... singular or plural?
A quickie question: is "a few" singular or plural? E.g.: (regarding a lost film) A few production stills is all that remains. -or- A few production stills are all that remain. —2606:A000:4C0C:E200:E19A:1892:B4DC:8315 (talk) 02:43, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
 * I get 1,190 results Google hits for "A few production stills is all that remains" and zero Google hits for "A few production stills are all that remain". Bus stop (talk) 03:13, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
 * (lol) Virtually all of those google hits relate to the article in question (mirrors, etc.). And there is one hit for the 2nd sentence (this reference desk), 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:E19A:1892:B4DC:8315 (talk) 03:37, 2 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Few is plural, so A few production stills are all that remain. --  Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  04:11, 2 October 2017 (UTC)


 * This page from Cambridge Dictionary site complicates things; I am still uncertain concerning my example. — 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:E19A:1892:B4DC:8315 (talk) 05:11, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
 * The point is that it always takes a plural object, never a singular one. And plural verbs, not singular ones. --  Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  05:28, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Just because a narrow Google search reveals that foolishness has been spread around, that does not transform that foolishness into truth. "A few" is plural. "A few" never applies to "one", which is singular. Cullen328  Let's discuss it  05:32, 2 October 2017 (UTC)


 * If "a few" were changed to "a small number", would it then be A small number of stills are all that remain. (?) — 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:E19A:1892:B4DC:8315 (talk) 05:39, 2 October 2017 (UTC) ... Did correction (here).
 * ... but isn't "number" singular?   D b f i r s   07:59, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Yeah, this is what confuses me. "a few" and "a small number" seem to fill the same sentence element to me.  Perhaps it is the singular "a" (few) that throws me off. 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:E19A:1892:B4DC:8315 (talk) 08:19, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
 * You are not alone! I think this confuses most people, given the frequency of errors.    D b f i r s   08:25, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
 * 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:E19A:1892:B4DC:8315, I wonder if you are Slavic. In Slavic languages, if the noun is grammatically singular, the verb is singular (most of the people is here). For example, in Russian: Большинство из них говорит по-русски (Most of them speaks Russian). In English, we use the logical plural. Even though the noun "most" is singular, its logical meaning is plural, so we say "most of them speak Russian". —Stephen (talk) 10:42, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
 * The usual rule of thumb with regard to number is that "a number" is construed as plural, "the number" as singular: "A number of my friends are going to the concert", but "The number of wildebeest on the plain was astounding." Deor (talk) 14:08, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
 * If you read the sentence as an inverse copular construction, then singular is fine: "All that remains is a few production stills". --Wrongfilter (talk) 05:57, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I prefer that construction. 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:E19A:1892:B4DC:8315 (talk) 06:54, 2 October 2017 (UTC) (re-edit)
 * It's the old dichotomy between the abstract and the concrete.  "A small number of people is selecting its partners for the next dance" just doesn't sound right. 81.147.142.152 (talk) 08:56, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Gee, thanks -- just as I started to combobulate, you had to rediscombobulate things. ;) 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:E19A:1892:B4DC:8315 (talk) 09:11, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

Chinese translations of computer keys
Can anyone translate the Chinese on these lower rows of computer keyboard keys? I'd also appreciate it if anyone could type the Chinese characters so that I can copy and paste them. I'm particularly interested in what the Chinese equivalents of Control, Meta, Hyper and Super keys are but some of that information is probably too hard to come by. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 185.216.49.78 (talk) 14:25, 2 October 2017 (UTC)


 * I found references.


 * (控制键 = control key)
 * (Windows use Windows, while Mac uses a four-petalled flower for the Meta key.)
 * (Meta key may be the Alt key （交替换挡键）or Esc key （退出键）, or as I mentioned above, the Mac version of Windows key. Super key is the Windows key or the four-petal flower key. Hyper key, according to the website, is undefined.)
 * I think you have a really old computer, because I have to search the web pictures to know what you are talking about. Though, I'm not exactly sure if the modern terms and the archaic terms are an exact match. Basically, I just looked for the modern English translation and looked for the Chinese equivalent. As for the picture, the 空格 means space. 140.254.70.33 (talk) 15:04, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

"Died in a hospital" – American English?
An ip very recently inserted the word "a" in the sentence; I removed it, and the ip subsequently reverted me saying that "a" is appropriate for American English. Here is the revert. I'm not asking whether either version forms a grammatically correct sentence; I know they both do; I'm asking whether it's more appropriate in US English with or without the word in this particular sentence. Please don't sidetrack off into irrelevant discussions about other sentences. Akld guy (talk) 22:41, 2 October 2017 (UTC)


 * "In hospital" is quite unusual in American English. We would say "in the hospital", even without a specific hospital in mind. --Trovatore (talk) 22:47, 2 October 2017 (UTC)


 * And we wouldn't likely say "in a hospital". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:33, 2 October 2017 (UTC)


 * True &mdash; "in the hospital" would be the normal way to say it. If that makes British readers scratch their heads as to which hospital it was, maybe some larger rephrasing is in order. --Trovatore (talk) 23:53, 2 October 2017 (UTC)


 * "The hospital" assumes that the specific hospital is already known. Of course, the solution would be to specify. 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:E19A:1892:B4DC:8315 (talk) 00:51, 3 October 2017 (UTC)


 * In American English, it's fine to say "in the hospital" without specifying which hospital that is. Compare it with "I left my wallet in the car".  It's not necessary to specify which car, in such a case.  StuRat (talk) 00:56, 3 October 2017 (UTC)


 * In New Zealand English, we would definitely say "he died in hospital", which I think also follows BritEng and AusEng. I'm not trying to debate it, just explaining why I questioned it. It's a US article and you guys get to choose. Akld guy (talk) 01:09, 3 October 2017 (UTC)


 * One way around it is to say "died in a local hospital" although that's kind of redundant. But Trovatore's change is the best, for this article. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:27, 3 October 2017 (UTC)


 * The original question having been adequately addressed, I feel free to mention a similar case. There's a famous short poem by R. L. Stevenson, called Requiem.  It reads in part, ...home is the sailor, home from (the)? sea, and the hunter home from the hill.  I find it some places as "home from sea" and sometimes as "home from the sea"; I don't know which is what Stevenson wrote.
 * But I don't recall ever seeing "home from hill". The issues are identical; there is no indication that there is a particular hill in mind, and yet speakers of all varieties seem to understand it.
 * So to sum up, English is sort of random :-). Americans have "in the hospital" along the lines of "home from the hill", whereas other varieties apparently do not.  --Trovatore (talk) 01:26, 3 October 2017 (UTC)
 * The rhythm of the sentence works better with "the". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:29, 3 October 2017 (UTC)
 * "home from the sea" is correct - at least that's what the put on his grave. Rmhermen (talk) 02:31, 3 October 2017 (UTC)
 * If you read further down in your linked article, that author actually claims that's a mistake: "That second “the” on line seven is a plaque-maker’s error."


 * On the other hand, Bartleby gives it with "the": http://www.bartleby.com/103/15.html
 * So I still don't know for sure. --Trovatore (talk) 04:45, 3 October 2017 (UTC)
 * The Edinburgh Companion to Robert Louis Stevenson and Joseph Farrell's Robert Louis Stevenson in Samoa both agree with the Paris Review that the poem was misquoted on the tombstone, Farrell's book also saying that "there have...been schemes to have the engraving removed and corrected". For me that outbalances Bartleby. --Antiquary (talk) 09:44, 3 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Searching in Google Books, I found several books containing what appears to be the poem as originally published. They all show "home from sea". For example this page from a 1910 omnibus volume of Stevenson, and this page from a 1919 reprint. Despite this, most other books that quote the poem give the wording as "home from the sea". --69.159.60.147 (talk) 09:56, 3 October 2017 (UTC)
 * It appears the tombstone is wrong, I see. This 2nd edition of Underwoods from 1887 has "from sea": Rmhermen (talk) 16:51, 3 October 2017 (UTC)
 * It's commonplace to say that someone "went to sea".  It's not commonplace to say that someone "went to hill".   So one wouldn't expect the article to be omitted when describing their return. 92.8.220.234 (talk) 18:31, 3 October 2017 (UTC)


 * "Och! he was ett by t'blancmange!"