Number of the word "semantics"

Question

Hello - I'm new to the group, so if this is a belabored question, please tell me to shove off (but only after pointing me someplace where my question is answered!).
My question concerns the use of the word "semantics" in a sentence such as this:
There (is/are) no semantics built into .
Should this be "is" or "are"? (Please don't tell me it depends on what the meaning of "is" is!) I've found a definition for "semantics" that tells me it's plural or singular, and its use depends on "construction". I don't know what "depends on construction" means.

Thanks for your help...

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]My question concerns the use of the word "semantics" in a sentence such as this: There (is/are) no semantics built into .[/nq]
Semantics is singular, just like mathematics,
economics and similar words.

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hello - I'm new to the group, so if this is a belabored question, please tell me to shove off ... or singular, and its use depends on "construction". I don't know what "depends on construction" means. Thanks for your help...[/nq]
are

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Should this be "is" or "are"? (Please don't tell me it depends on what the meaning of "is" is!) I've ... tells me it's plural or singular, and its use depends on "construction". I don't know what "depends on construction" means.[/nq]
I am probably not very qualified to answer this question (or any questions in this newsgroup for this matter), but I did notice this subject matter in "Woe is I." There, Patricia T. O'Conner notes that the -ics words are typically singular. They become plural when they refer to something specific. For example:
Politics is boring.
His politics are terrible.
I think this means that in your case it is an *is*. I do hate to disagree with someone in this newsgroup though

, and would assume the error is mine.
Look through some google links for more information: http://www.google.com/search?q=ics%20plural&btnG=Google+Search

From there:
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/plurals?view=uk http://www.dictionary.net/ics
http://www.economist.com/research/styleGuide/index.cfm?page=805687 http://annex.ncwc.edu/writing lab/nc/esl/setvi/prints/SETVI3AP.html plural
hth,
denis
ps. I just noticed that some of the links I provided seem to disagree. For example, from Wikipedia (yeah, edited by mere mortals): "Arts and sciences (even those ending in ics are treated as singular)"

From dictionary.net:
"The names sciences ending in ics, as mathematics, mechanics, metaphysics, optics, etc., are, with respect to their form, nouns in the plural number. The plural form was probably introduced to mark the complex nature of such sciences; and it may have been in imitation of the use of the Greek plurals"
dictionary.net cites Webster's (1913) as a reference.

Where does this leave you? I don't really know. I'd probably just look through more Google links to form an opinion or to get a feel. I did notice at least one page, which confirmed the "Woe is I" definition.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Should this be "is" or "are"?[/nq]
I think of it this way: as you used it, the word "semantics" is a shortened form of the phrase, "the field of semantics". As the deleted word "field" is singular, the verb is singular.

Michael DeBusk, Co-Conspirator to Make the World a Better Place Did he update http://home.earthlink.net/~debu4335/ yet?

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Should this be "is" or "are"?[/nq]
[nq:1]I think of it this way: as you used it, the word "semantics" is a shortened form of the phrase, "the field of semantics". As the deleted word "field" is singular, the verb is singular.[/nq]
First of all, thanks to all for their input on this. It does appear, doesn't it, that it's not a cut and dried issue?As far as the current post is concerned, I think the author of the sentence in question is really trying to say, "There are no semantic rules contained in..." (I think he really means "inherent", not "contained".) The dictionaries I've looked at all say that "semantics" is a field of study, and so it would appear to me that his usage ("is" or "are") is incorrect in any case - it's his use of the word "semantics" that's in error.

On the other hand, it seems to me that folks (including the author, in this case) are beginning to use the word "semantics" to refer not only to the field of study, but as a collective word for all the language meanings in some particular context. If that were the case, then his use of "are" would be ok, wouldn't it?
Does anyone alse get that sense of current usage?

Usenet · Answer

(re. "There (is/are) no semantics built into .")
[nq:1]As far as the current post is concerned, I think the author of the sentence in question is really trying ... case, then his use of "are" would be ok, wouldn't it? Does anyone alse get that sense of current usage?[/nq]
Yes; I'm inclined to think Denis's "His politics are terrible" would be analagous to your example, if "semantics" there is indeed intended to mean "meanings" or "rules for deriving meaning" rather than "study of meaning".

Odysseus

Number of the word "semantics"

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions