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Cool Breeze Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Many behaviours

What do members of EF think of many behaviours in this sentence from TimesOnLine (oh dear...):

"The child refuses to eat with a spoon, insisting on lapping up her food straight from the plate, and has taken on many other behaviours of the animals with which she lived, police said."

The entire article is [url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6373089.ece]here.[/url]

CB
  

Top answer

I would say that this is a scientific use of the term 'behaviour' from psychology. If you substitute 'traits', which is in the same scientific word-category, it should feel more acceptable to you. I have no problem with the plural 'behaviours' in any scientific context.

— Patrick Lockerby

  • I would say that this is a scientific use of the term 'behaviour' from psychology.
  • If you substitute 'traits', which is in the same scientific word-category, it should feel more acceptable to you.
  • I have no problem with the plural 'behaviours' in any scientific context.
  • However, in ordinary speech I would find it very strange.
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2 Answers
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I would say that this is a scientific use of the term 'behaviour' from psychology.
If you substitute 'traits', which is in the same scientific word-category, it should feel more acceptable to you.

I have no problem with the plural 'behaviours' in any scientific context. However, in ordinary speech I would find it very strange.
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I would agree with Patrick. "Behaviour" in the same context might simply suggest generally animal-like behaviour; but "behaviours" suggests "specific kinds of behaviour".

MrP
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