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Kunsan Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

History or histories?

Hello

Could you help me out with this one?
  • I want to learn about New York's and Rome's history.
  • I want to learn about New York's and Rome's histories.
Which would you prefer? Are they both grammatically acceptable? Do they have different nuances in meaning?

History keeps troubling me...

Kunsan
  

Top answer

Hi Kunsan: History is commonly used in the plural form. Here is an example; The project is collecting oral histories of the survivors. In you example, the plural is fine.

— AlpheccaStars

  • Hi Kunsan: History is commonly used in the plural form.
  • Here is an example; The project is collecting oral histories of the survivors.
  • In you example, the plural is fine.
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4 Answers
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Hi Kunsan:

History is commonly used in the plural form. Here is an example;

The project is collecting oral histories of the survivors.

In you example, the plural is fine.
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Thank you very much for your quick reply. Still I would like to confirm the meaning of "histories".
In your example, the "oral histories of the survivors" refer to the (records of) stories told by the survivors. In my sentence, I want to refer to history more generally as "all the events that happened in the past" (OALD), rather than the stories or written records that exist about those two c
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The history of New York does not have much to do with the history of Rome, they are different subjects. I would use plural.
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Thank you. They are indeed two different histories (plural, right?). That seems to be indeed a good explanation. Thanks again.
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