Adding -s

Question

Are these correct and what's the difference in meaning between them?

1. There aren't any cars down here.
2. There isn't a car down here.

3. It didn't catch any mistakes.
4. It didn't catch any mistake.

5. It can discard unsolicited letter to your house.
5. It can discard unsolicited letters to your house.

6. There is more rumor about you.
7. There are more rumors about you.("rumors" is not countable? why is it plural and how is it correct? )

8. I like to eat hamburgers.
9. I like to eat hamburger.

Caroline · Accepted Answer

Hi Jack

The 1st 2 sentences are correct, you added the s when there is more than one car.

Sentence 3 doesn't make much sense to me. What about "It didn't detect / pick out / come across / find any mistakes"?

"It can discard unsolicited letters to your house." is gramatically correct yet I would need the context to tell you whether the sentence makes sense for the purpose you intend.

"There are more rumours about you." or perhaps to make the sentence sound better "More rumours about you are circulating." (If you want to use the singular then the sentence would be "Another rumour about you is circulating.") Yes, rumours are countable.

Sentence 8 is correct, 9 definitely not. By the way, if you are speaking of a general habit use the first sentence, but if you are referring to a the fact that you'd like to eat a hamburger at a particular moment, then you'd have to say: "I would like to eat a hamburger."

CalifJim · Answer

1. There aren't any cars down here. (neutral statement)
2. There isn't a car down here. (different intonation - emphasizes the absence of cars - indicates some surprise at something unexpected - means same as "There isn't a SINGLE CAR down here."

3. It didn't catch any mistakes. (neutral statement)
4. It didn't catch any mistake. ( emphasizes surprise at something unexpected - stress on "any" - means same as "It didn't catch a SINGLE mistake.")

5. It can discard unsolicited letter to your house. (I don't understand this.)
5. It can discard unsolicited letters to your house. (I don't understand this.)
The second one is grammatical, but not the first in this pair. Count nouns in the singular (letter) require a determiner like "a", "the", "my", etc.

6. There is more rumor about you. (Ungrammatical.)
7. There are more rumors about you.("rumors" is not countable? why is it plural and how is it correct? ) (Correct. "rumor" is countable; "gossip" is not countable: There's a lot of gossip about you. There are a lot of rumors about you.)

8. I like to eat hamburgers. (the sandwiches - with the ketchup, mustard, etc. in a bun)
9. I like to eat hamburger. (the chopped meat itself - cooked or raw - not formed into patties)

Jack112 · Answer

Deleted.

Jack112 · Answer

Are these correct and what's the difference in meaing between them?

1. There's a lot of gossip about you. (how come 'a lot of' doesn't make 'gossip' plural?)
2. There are a lot of rumors about you. (what's the difference in meaning between this one and the one above?)

3. The mailman will discard a unsolicited letter to your house. ( I hope it makes sense now.)
4. The mailman will discard unsolicited letters to your house.

5. I need a graphics card.
6. I need a graphic card.

7. I am not confident with my ability to run.
8. I am not confident with my abilities to run.

CalifJim · Answer

1. There's a lot of gossip about you. (how come 'a lot of' doesn't make 'gossip' plural?)

"a lot" can only be singular, but in casual usage the agreement with the verb is determined by the word that comes after "a lot of". Another useful fact about "a lot of" is that it goes with both countable and non-countable nouns. Thus, it means both "many" and "much".

2. There are a lot of rumors about you. (what's the difference in meaning between this one and the one above?)
There is no significant difference in meaning. "gossip" is defined as trivial or groundless rumors. A "rumor" is a piece of unverified information passed by word of mouth.

3. The mailman will discard a unsolicited letter to your house. ( I hope it makes sense now.)
4. The mailman will discard unsolicited letters to your house.

I'm sorry. It doesn't help much. I don't understand what you mean by "an unsolicited letter". It's "an", not "a", by the way.

5. I need a graphics card.
6. I need a graphic card.

I believe it's called a "graphics card" -- a card which enables graphics. By the way, "graphics" is not plural. Neither are "mathematics", "physics", "economics", and similar words.

7. I am not confident with my ability to run.
8. I am not confident with my abilities to run.

I think you want "I am not confident of my ability to run."

Jack112 · Answer

Thanks.

What's the difference in meaning between these ones?

1. There's a lot of rumor about you.
2. There are a lot of rumors about you.
When would you use plural and when would you not for the word 'rumor'?

3. I am not confident with my ability to run.
4. I am not confident with my abilities to run.

CalifJim · Answer

Use 'rumor' or 'rumors' (Remember it's a count noun!) the same as 'chair' or 'chairs'. It simply depends on how many there are.

"a lot of" can be followed only by a (singular) noncount noun or a plural count noun, so only sentence 2 is correct.

Sentence 3 is the correct one. You're only talking about one ability -- your running ability.

Jack112 · Answer

Okay, I am understand this a lot better now, thanks.

1. Too bad cars cant take shortcuts like that. (What does this mean?)
2. Too bad cars cant take a shortcut like that. ( Is this saying that cars cannot take that specific shortcut like that?

Does it matter which one I use? Or it depends on the situtaion?

Are these correct?

3. It depends on the situations. ('Situation' is countable?)
4. It depends on the locations. ('Locations' is countable?
I have checked these words at dictionary.com but they don't have 'situations' nor 'locations', so does that mean they are incorrect?

5. TV on the desktop is a great feature and the Leadtek will definitely be getting a lot of use.
6. TV on the desktop is a great feature and the Leadtek will definitely be getting a lot of uses.

CalifJim · Answer

In 1 and 2, "Too bad" at the beginning means "It is unfortunate that".
In 2., "shortcut" may be interpreted as any shortcut in general or as a specific shortcut. Your interpretation certainly is possible.

3 and 4. "situation" and "location" are both count nouns, yes. Plurals are not usually shown in dictionaries unless they are irregular. Not finding the plural of a count noun in the dictionary does not mean that the plural is incorrect -- not at all.

There is a difference between "correct" and "idiomatic". Of all the possible things people might say -- all of them correct -- there are considerably fewer that people really do say -- the idiomatic things. As an isolated sentence, "It depends on the situation" is the more idiomatic way of saying it, but in both cases the plural is correct and idiomatic if there is more than one situation or location you are talking about.

In 5 and 6, context makes "use" a non-count noun, so only 5 is possible.

Jack112 · Answer

What's the difference in meaning between these:

1. I didn't get any new mail.
2. I didn't get any ew mails.

3. Did you get any new mail?
4. Did you get any new mails?

Does it matter which one I use (the one with 's' and no 's')? If it does matter, how do I know which one to use?

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