Zero And The English Plural

TheMadFool February 16, 2021 at 14:51 1200 views 4 comments

Why is it more comfortable to say zero apples than zero apple and it's more easier on the tongue to say 1 apple and many apples? Adding an "s" at the end of nouns is done to indicate plurality - multiplicity - and yet when we refer to nothing, zero, it's more natural to use the plural e.g. zero men is preferred over zero man, zero dogs feels more natural than zero dog. What gives?

Comments (4)

Streetlight February 16, 2021 at 15:04 #500376 0 likes

https://philnews.ph/2019/04/01/count-nouns-mass-nouns-definition-examples/

TheMadFool February 16, 2021 at 15:12 #500377 0 likes

Reply to StreetlightX :up: Thanks.

Nils Loc February 21, 2021 at 21:00 #501906 0 likes

Wikipedia: Mass Noun:Some nouns can be used indifferently as mass or count nouns, e.g., three cabbages or three heads of cabbage; three ropes or three lengths of rope. Some have different senses as mass and count nouns: paper is a mass noun as a material (three reams of paper, one sheet of paper), but a count noun as a unit of writing ("the students passed in their papers").

There was zero toilet paper in the Philosophy Salon's water closet.

When essays were written on the toilet paper they became toilet papers, such that at any time there could also be zero toilet papers in the Philosophy Salon's water closet.

Valentinus February 22, 2021 at 00:43 #501947 0 likes

Reply to StreetlightX
The article is interesting in how nouns are used to group things or not. But the matter of being singular or not in distinction to the zero is a counting thing as well. We use zeroes to multiply a set of things.
I think the first negative number of -1 plays a part. Zero is excluded from the identity operation.