A plural/singular question

Question

I saw/heard a sentence that went something like

"That's a basement, there's no door or windows."

What I don't understand is why the nouns don't even agree in number.

Can anybody PLEASE explain?

Thank you very much!

Akshay Bilolikar · Accepted Answer

What can I say, welcome to the English language...

English is a little strange in that there are certain idiomatic phrases which are grammatically incorrect, but are perfectly correct to native English speakers. The idea of having a single window is seen as far less likely as having multiple, so it is presumed that if there are windows, there will be more than one. However, because having more than one door would similarly be presumed silly, you cannot use "doors".

It all depends on the order, but not really. Because door is first, and door is singluar, the verb is singular.

That's a nice basement, there's no door or windows.

However, if you placed windows first, being plural, it would change to being plural.

That's a nice basement, there are no windows or door.

Now this is where the English speaker sees a problem. Singularity is the assumed position, so plural followed by singular sounds weird, while singluar followed by plural can be accepted. In this case, one would say:

That's a nice basement, there are no windows or doors.

Sorry, but this is English!

Chivalry · Answer

Akshay BilolikarWhat can I say, welcome to the English language...

English is a little strange in that there are certain idiomatic phrases which are grammatically incorrect, but are perfectly correct to native English speakers. The idea of having a single window is seen as far less likely as having multiple, so it is presumed that if there are windows, there will be more than one. However, because having more than one door would similarly be presumed silly, you cannot use "doors".

It all depends on the order, but not really. Because door is first, and door is singluar, the verb is singular.

That's a nice basement, there's no door or windows.

However, if you placed windows first, being plural, it would change to being plural.

That's a nice basement, there are no windows or door.

Now this is where the English speaker sees a problem. Singularity is the assumed position, so plural followed by singular sounds weird, while singluar followed by plural can be accepted. In this case, one would say:

That's a nice basement, there are no windows or doors.

Sorry, but this is English!

Thank you, Ashkay.

Just another little question here since it's brought up,

are there any other idiomatic phrases that pretty much assemble this one?

And by idiomatic you mean this is said more common that the correct version?

Just curious,

thank you so much again.

A plural/singular question

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