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Guest Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Light, lights?

0 I'd like to know the word for a light that is a long tube and gives out white light. 02br
00Is the word "light" countable? three lights? ten lights? 02br
00Is one light bulb or one long tube regarded as one light? thanks a lot 0-
  

Top answer

0I suppose that you are speaking of neon or fluorescent lights. Normally, the light or lamp is the whole fixture, so that one light could have two incandescent light bulbs or fluorescent tubes. 02br 02br 00I would not be surprised to see dissenting opinions, however.

— Mister Micawber

  • 0I suppose that you are speaking of neon or fluorescent lights.
  • Normally, the light or lamp is the whole fixture, so that one light could have two incandescent light bulbs or fluorescent tubes.
  • 02br 02br 00I would not be surprised to see dissenting opinions, however.
  • 0-
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4 Answers
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0I suppose that you are speaking of neon or fluorescent lights. Normally, the light or lamp is the whole fixture, so that one light could have two incandescent light bulbs or fluorescent tubes. 02br
02br
00I would not be surprised to see dissenting opinions, however. 0-
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0Very often, when one buys a light fixture, the 'lightbulbs' don't come with it. So when buying the lightbulbs, and you use the word 'lights' to refer to the 'lightbulbs', they would be countable. "I need three lights for this fixture, please."02br
02br
00The word 'light', when referring to the overall quality of illumination--and not to bulbs, or fixtures, (or heavenly bodi
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0 Thank you both for your help. I have another question about "light". Do we say "traffic lights" or "traffic light"? One traffic light fixture(?) has three "lights". On an intersection, there may be four sets of traffic lights. What is the countability of "traffic light"? Thank you very much. 0-
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0 Traffic light fixtures can have less than three 'signal lights', or more than three. Also, there can be more than one traffic fixture at an intersection. Context, as usual, would have something to say about how a singular, or plural, form of the word will be interpreted. 0-
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