A Savings Of

Question

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/28/us/when-school-dropouts-start-to-look-like-a-budget-blessing.html

"Every time a student drops out of public school, taxpayers save money. That’s one fewer student, at a savings of more than $11,000 per year from state and local sources. "

Shouldn't it be "at a saving of" instead of "at a savings of"? What's with the "s" if the article "a" is used?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Hi;

Savings is a noun. = an amount of money saved, and put in a safe place for the future.

A type of company where you can deposit your savings is a "Savings and Loan."

It can also be an ajective: I have $500 in my savings account.

The noun can also have the form without -s; saving; meaning is a lessening of an expenditure. I go shopping on Black Friday to get a saving of 20% or more on my purchases.

PamQueue · Answer

I think "saving" was used in the "lessening of an expenditure" sense in my example, so "saving" is countable.  But I am confused by "a savings", using "a" before the plural "savings".

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Hi;

"Savings" is not plural, it is singular.

If you shop now, you will get a savings of $50 on every purchase.

Anonymous · Answer

"Savings" is not singular. "A savings" does not make sense.

Jeffnc · Answer

I agree with Pam that the word "savings" in that context is incorrect, but not for the reason that "a" is used. There are many words than end with an 's' that are actually singular. Politics, linguistics, billiards, aerobics, savings.

The problem is that the word "savings" is actually confusing, and so it's come into usage that sometimes makes no sense. "savings" can be singular, and "a savings" can actually be correct. However, that's not how the word is used in the original quote. That $11,000 isn't actually a "savings" yet - it's not a separate entity that the taxpayers or state is actually holding anywhere. You could write something like this: "One fewer student would result in a savings of $11,000". Because then we'd be talking about a chunk of money that has been saved in a bank. But "at a savings of" doesn't make any sense - unless there's an additional usage of the word I'm not familiar with. I think the word is commonly misused this way though. In fact, when words get constantly misused enough, they eventually make it into the dictionary as "correct" usage. So who knows? Maybe the usage is accepted now or soon to be accepted. But I really don't think you could argue with "at a saving of more than $11,000."

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