"Doings?"

Question

Hello,Could you tell me please if it is a mistake to say 'doings' instead of 'doing' in this sentence?"I promise you this was none of  my doing."

Avangi · Accepted Answer

ninania"I promise you this was none of my doing."

In my opinion, the plural would be incorrect.

We also use, "This was not of my doing."

Casually, we hear things like, "He's famous for his doings in the next county."

I'd say "of my doing" uses "doing" as an uncountable.

This is not my doing / These are not my doings. The plural has to be countable. The singular could be either.

Maybe "These are none of my doings" is acceptable,
but "These are not of my doings" is definitely not idiomatic. (It may be grammatical.)

Sorry to be so non-committal, but as I got into this I began to have my doubts.

- A.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you.

Anonymous · Answer

Hello,

I noticed that with theseit becomes plural. Maybe this is what it depends on?

You said it may be grammatical so it's not a mistake, am I right?

Avangi · Answer

ninaniaI noticed that with these it becomes plural. Maybe this is what it depends on?

That may be a slight oversimplification, but it's a step in the right direction. While a plural noun is countable, a singular noun can often be both.
And there are cases (I believe) in which a plural is called for without the presence of "these."

ninaniaYou said it may be grammatical so it's not a mistake, am I right?

It's a matter of definition. You can have grammatical mistakes, logical mistakes, idiomatic mistakes, etc.
There are things we simply don't say, even though they're grammatical.
And there are widely accepted idioms which appear to be ungrammatical.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you.

"Doings?"

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