Test yourself then check below. Which is correct? Sometimes both are.
- The incident resulted in considerable material damage / damages.
- She sued for damage / damages.
- Go to the contents / content page to find the relevant chapter.
4. Fish contains less than the cholesterol content / contents in beef and chicken.
5. What’s / are the news?
6. Measles is / are on the increase due to a lack of uptake of vaccinations.
7. Billiards is / are a game which connects mathematics and football.
8. The team is / are meeting later this week.
9. The family is / are coming to dinner next week.
Answer key with explanations
1 and 2. Some nouns have different meanings when they are used in the singular or plural form.
1.The incident resulted in considerable material damage.
(uncountable when it means detrimental effects)
2. She sued for damages.
(plural when it is monetary compensation)
3. Go to the contents page to find the relevant chapter.
(contents = list of chapters or sections in the front of a book)
4. Fish contains less than the cholesterol content in beef and chicken. (content = what it contains)
5. What’s the news? (Some nouns like news have a plural form but take a singular verb.)
6. Measles is on the increase due to a lack of uptake of vaccinations. (Some medical conditions such as shingles, mumps, rickets, measles are singular.)
7. Billiards is a game which connects mathematics and football.
(Some games such as dominoes, billiards, darts, etc. are singular.)
8 and 9. Both are correct, depending on intended meaning. Some singular nouns can take a singular or plural verb, depending on the context or meaning. If singular, it is considered as a single unit; while if plural, we consider the people in it.
Author: Carol Waites
Presentation/editing by Christina O’Shaughnessy
https://worldwidewriting.org/
________________________________________________
Carol Waites (PhD)
Email: carolswritingtips@gmail.com
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Carol’s memoir of her times at the United Nations, Behind the Flags, is available on Amazon and lulu.com
ISBN 9783952632703 Behind the Flags Amazon
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It is also available for sale at Payot and in the UN bookshop at the Pregny entry in Geneva.