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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
I’d appreciate it if someone would answer my questions about the following 2 sentences. Thanks in advance.
(A) Five years have passed since his father died.
(B) Five years have been passing since his father died.
I think (A) means the fifth anniversary of his father’s death came maybe just recently. Am I right?
I don’t know what sentence (B) means, but made it in order to know “have [has] been —ing” can coexist with the verb “pass”.
Does (B) mean that nearly 5 years have passed since his father died or make no sense?
If it makes no sense, I think the reason is as follows;
(B) means the first year is going to pass soon after his father died, and the second year is too going to pass soon, although the first year has not yet passed.
Is my explanation right?
One more question---- Are the following 2 sentences correct?
© One year has been passing since his father died.
(D) This year has been passing, but I still have no job.
Does © mean the first anniversary of his father’s death is going to come soon?
Does (D) mean this year is going to come to a close and the new year starts, without any job?
B is incorrect as you indicate. That tense makes no sense in that context as it is continuous and the years don’t continuously pass. Once they have passed, that is it.
For the same reason C and D don’t work.
One year has passed since his father died.
This year is passing, but I still have no job.
—Thank you very much, Beeesneees. I see your idea very well. Do you mean “year” and “month” and “week” and “day” don’t continue? Then how about this? — Time has been passing since his father died.
“Time has been passing since his father died.”—I would read the sentence as one stressing the idea of time simply going by, in just a meaningless row of months/years, as he was so overwhelmed by his loss that no events could stir his emotions ever since.
Thank you Eugene. So I can say “stressful time has been passing since his father died”, can’t I?
And I can’t I use units of measure instead of time / or stressful time in the place of the Subject, can I?
–In my view, it’s much more common to come across Past Continuous/Pres Perf than Pres Perf Cont, which natives are very reluctant to use. Personally I, would avoid using the latter regardless of whatever units.
Native English speakers are ‘reluctant to use’ it because it’s incorrect. You cannot correctly say ‘A stressful time has been passing since my father died’. In fact, ‘has passed’ doesn’t make much sense there at all. The correct and natural form is ‘He’s had/It’s been a stressful time since his father died.’
Saying ‘they are reluctant to use’ I meant the Pres Perf Cont as a tense relying on Dozy’s expertise.
By the way, I feel I should’ve omitted the comma in “In my view, it’s much more common to come across Past Continuous/Pres Perf than Pres Perf Cont, which natives are very reluctant to use.” (?)
Before ‘which’ of course…
－－I see very well. Thank you Beeesneees and Eugene.