Author Topic: 2 things. 1 thing. 0 things. (Read 1168 times)

The Resonte! · July 04, 2016, 04:08:06 PM

i had a stunning revelation thought about the english langauge

when we have a multitude of nouns we add the s at the end right? 5 wheels. 3 coffees. 2 blocklands.

and when there's only one it's just. 1 wheel. 1 brick. 1 player.

but then, why does, when theres ZERO of something, there's still the s at the end? 0 players. 0 dollar bills. 0 s's.

please help i have to know

Ad Bot · Advertisement

d · July 04, 2016, 04:10:40 PM

Freek · July 04, 2016, 04:10:57 PM

because it's like saying there are NO players. If it were 0 player or no player, it wouldnt make sense

Quote Story · July 04, 2016, 04:33:50 PM

Quote from: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/38293/why-is-zero-plural

Substitute the word "any" in the place of zero and it makes sense. Instead of saying "I have zero books." you are saying "I do not have any books."

In this construction, the plural is not referring to the zero-quantity of books you have, but instead refers to a (vague and undefined) collection of books, none of which you have.

A cool thing I learned from this is that zero is not a real number.

espio100 · July 04, 2016, 04:37:56 PM

I honestly never use grammar rules or whatever use when speaking or typing english
I just say/type what feels right and it usually is right
Its strange that I basicly learned an entire language trough television and the internet.