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A person who works at a GM dealership will say "I sell cars", while a
person who works for John Deere would probably say "I sell equipment".
ron
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+rhearn=cucbc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+rhearn=cucbc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of Dick Margulis
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2006 10:26 AM
To: Sandy Nicholson
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: plural form of 'equipment' ?
Sandy Nicholson wrote:
>
> The thing about `equipment' is not that it has a non-standard plural
> form (which is the case with `sheep'), but that it is a mass noun
rather
> than a count noun, so it has no plural form at all. It is more akin to
> words like `flour', `plastic', `software' and so on. (I threw that
last
> one in because I'm aware that some people talk about `a software',
> something that sends shivers down my spine. I could also have added
> `email', which is now widely accepted as a count noun and a mass noun
-
> though I still use it exclusively as a mass noun in my own writing:
> `some email', but `an email message'.)
>
Sandy,
While you're mostly correct, I think there is enough seepage around the
edges to confuse a non-native speaker.
Sheep is a single species, and so we talk about multiple breeds of sheep
rather than Dorsets and Merinos being two different sheeps. But when we
talk about fish (which superficially resemble sheep in the linguistic
sense, not the anatomical sense), we are considering multiple species
and so we often read about fishes in scientific contexts.
(While we're on the subject, species is both singular and plural.)
I bake my own bread and have several different flours in the house.
Looking around my desk, I don't see a lot of plastic, but I do see a
number of different plastics.
Overnight I received several emails from clients (but I also received a
lot of other email <g>).
I'll go along with you on software, though. I can't think of any
situation where hardwares or softwares would be correct.
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