If anybody can tell, as the topic, why ‘colds’ uses the plural form, but temperature uses the single form, it would be great thanks!
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Can you please share an example where ‘colds’ is used in the plural form? I mean the phrase “We’ve got colds” doesn’t make any sense.
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I don’t think I’ve ever heard cold (temperature) used in the plural
As a virus, cold can be plural, although you rarely hear it used in the plural.
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Many thanks! I just feel confused, many English teaching books tell learners something that people don’t really use.
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Is your English teacher a native speaker?
I have not seen any ESL text books. It wouldn’t surprise me if they contain a lot of errors, archaic English, and teach overly formal English.
Even on this site you will find native speakers who disagree on things. They have different experiences, are different age groups, live in different regions, had different professions, hung around with different people, etc. Sometimes it’s purely opinion. However the plural of cold is something I don’t think any native speakers will disagree on.
Even for us native speakers, we actually get similar things with British to American English translations.
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Many thanks for your clear explanation and great help!
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I can think of only one example of “colds”.
“How is your family?”
“We’ve all got colds.”
Any larger group or less informal, I think you would use the singular.
“Everyone I know has a cold.”
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Thank you ! So ‘colds’ can be used when a group of people gets sick, but sounds ‘temperature’ can’t be used as single form, right? I’m a bit confused since the answers I got are really various
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Sorry. I meant to say that “colds” is really uncommon. The example above was just to find one possibility. You can get along perfectly well without it.
Normally you would talk about “a cold” or “a temperature “.
“Everyone in my family has a cold.”
“Both my children have a temperature.”
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Wow, I totally misread this question when I answered last night. I read this as air temperature, not the illness. I’m going to change my answer.
As I already said, when referring to the virus, colds can be used in the plural. So “We’ve got colds” is awkward in my opinion, but I don’t think it’s wrong.
John: How are your wife and kids?
Joe: We’ve got colds.
or
We all have a cold.
I think you can also say, “We’ve got temperatures”.
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Thank you very much! You explanation is really helpful!
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Actually, everything you said is clear, I was confused just cause I got quite different answers from people. However, how people use them in the real life is more vaulable, though sometimes, it works differently in grammar. Great thanks!
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Thank you very much! You explanation is really helpful!
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Thank you very much! Your explanation is really helpful!
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