Plural or singular form of object?

Question

Hello,I'd like to know, when a sentence is talking about a group of people having something which is same or similar, whether plural or singular form of object should be used in that sentence?eg 1:PA stands for the state Pennsylvania in US. All of the states have an abbreviation that are used in mailing addresses. PA stands for the state Pennsylvania in US. All of the states have abbreviations that are used in mailing addresseseg 2: [when a teacher enters in a classroom]'Wow, all of you are wearing a red T-shirt today. Is today a special day?''Wow, all of you are wearing red T-shirts today. Is today a special day?'eg 3:People living in that town are rich. All the families in that town have a big garden in front of their house.People living in that town are rich. All the families in that town have big gardens in front of their houses.Thanks in advance!!

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

I'd like to know, when a sentence is talking about a group of people having something which is same or similar, whether plural or singular form of object should be used in that sentence?-- The basic guideline is to use singular with singular and plural with plural unless ambiguity results.

eg 1:
PA stands for the state Pennsylvania in US. All of the states have an abbreviation that are used in mailing addresses-- This suggests that either that each state has one abbreviation or that all the states use the same single abbreviation. The latter is so illogical that there is no ambiguity here.

PA stands for the state Pennsylvania in US. All of the states have abbreviations that are used in mailing addresses-- This may suggest that several abbreviations for each state are available (which is actually the case, since some people use e.g. 'Penn' for Pennsyvania, but is not, I think what is intended in this sentence), so this sentence is unhealthily ambiguous.

eg 2: [when a teacher enters in a classroom]
'Wow, all of you are wearing a red T-shirt today. Is today a special day?'-- Ridiculous that all would be inside the same shirt, so this is unambiguous and acceptable.

'Wow, all of you are wearing red T-shirts today. Is today a special day?'-- Ridiculous that each one should be wearing several shirts, so this is unambiguous and acceptable. Therefore, use this one (plural students, plural shirts) as better style.

eg 3:
People living in that town are rich. All the families in that town have a big garden in front of their house.--Ridiculous that all the families should share the same house and garden, so this is unambiguous and acceptable.

People living in that town are rich. All the families in that town have big gardens in front of their houses.-- Ridiculous that each family, no matter how rich, should have several gardens and houses in the town, so this is unambiguous and acceptable. Therefore, use this one (plural families, plural gardens and houses) as better style.

Plural or singular form of object?

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