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Singularia Tantum
A ''plurale tantum'' (Latin for "plural only"; ) is a noun that appears only in the plural form and does not have a singular variant for referring to a single object. In a less strict usage of the term, it can also refer to nouns whose singular form is rarely used. In English, ''pluralia tantum'' are often words that denote objects that occur or function as pairs or sets, such as ''spectacles'', ''trousers'', ''pants'', ''scissors'', ''clothes'', or ''genitals''. Other examples are for collections that, like ''alms'' and ''feces'', cannot conceivably be singular. Other examples include '' suds'', ''jeans'', ''outskirts'', ''odds'', ''riches'', ''surroundings'', ''thanks'', and ''heroics''. In some languages, ''pluralia tantum'' refer to points or periods of time (for example, Latin 'calends, the first day of the month', German 'vacation, holiday') or to events (for example, Finnish 'wedding' and 'face'). In some cases there is no obvious semantic reason for a particular noun t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plural
The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This default quantity is most commonly one (a form that represents this default quantity of one is said to be of ''singular'' number). Therefore, plurals most typically denote two or more of something, although they may also denote fractional, zero or negative amounts. An example of a plural is the English word ''cats'', which corresponds to the singular ''cat''. Words of other types, such as verbs, adjectives and pronouns, also frequently have distinct plural forms, which are used in agreement with the number of their associated nouns. Some languages also have a dual (denoting exactly two of something) or other systems of number categories. However, in English and many other languages, singular and plural are the only grammatical numbers, exce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |