costume

Question

I don't think 17 year old girls with no costumes/costume on should be able to get candy.Should it be plural or singular here?  I'm guessing plural but why could it be singular?Thanks!

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

PreciousJones I don't think 17-year-old girls with no costumes/costume on should be able to get candy. Should it be plural or singular here? I'm guessing plural but why could it be singular?Thanks!

Either is possible.

The singular is possible because each girl has a costume (or doesn't). So there is one costume per girl (or not).

Actually, I prefer the singular here. It's obvious that if there is more than one girl, more than one girl could (each) have appeared without a costume. Besides, the plural 'costumes' might suggest that each girl had (or didn't have) more than one costume, which doesn't make sense.

When you have a situation where each person in a group of people normally has only one of something, the singular is usually possible.

Everyone in the class had an itchy nose that morning. (or, perhaps less often, had itchy noses) (Each person has only one nose. The version with noses could sound comical because of this if the listener took it the wrong way.)

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJimPreciousJones I don't think 17-year-old girls with no costumes/costume on should be able to get candy. Should it be plural or singular here? I'm guessing plural but why could it be singular?Thanks!

Hey CalifJim,
I am curious.
Is the word no used as a determiner like some and more, so that is why we can choose between costumes and costume?
If it is, is no an infinite pronoun?

CalifJim · Answer

MeathawkIs the word no used as a determiner like some and more

Yes. no, some, more, the, a, an,and others are determiners.

Meathawkwhy we can we choose between costumes and costume?

That choice has nothing to do with determiners. The determiner 'no' can occur before both singular and plural nouns.

Meathawkis no an infinite pronoun?

I have never heard the term 'infinite pronoun', so I can't answer your question.

CJ

Hughes111 · Answer

ok

Dave_anon · Answer

Hi

I have seen the phrase 'infinite pronoun' and it seems to refer to what is more commonly called an indefinite pronoun

Many pronouns refer to something definite: something - or someone - that you can point to or pick out

But there are a number of kinds of pronoun that don't. For the given example, a usage of an indefinite pronoun would be:

- Of the girls who did not wear costume, none got candy

"None" here acts like a pronoun but does not refer to anything you can point to. So it is an indefinite pronoun

I don't think a determiner can be a pronoun, so 'no' would not qualify

Hope this helps

Dave

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you CJ, and thank you Dave, I did mean indefinite pronoun.

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