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Joey_five Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

plurals?? on idiomatic expressions ....

0The job was a piece of cake... but02br
02br
001a) The jobs were a piece of cake; or02br
02br
001b) The jos were pieces of cake.02br
02br
00How about:02br
02br
002a) The movie was so scary that the children almost jumped of their skin; or02br
02br
002b) The movie was so scary that the children almost jumped of their skins.02br
02br
00Thank you in advance.0-
  

Top answer

0 I'd say 01i 00The jobs were a piece of cake02i 00. 02br 02br 00 CJ0-

— CalifJim

  • 0 I'd say 01i 00The jobs were a piece of cake02i 00.
  • 02br 02br 00 CJ0-
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4 Answers
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0 I'd say 01i00The jobs were a piece of cake02i00. (They were both easy.)02br
02br
00 And I'd say either 01i00jumped 01b00out02b00 of their skin02i00 or 01i00skins02i00.02br
02br
00 CJ0-
0
0
0 01blockquote
01cite10CalifJim12cite10I'd say 11i10The jobs were a piece of cake12i10. (They were both easy.)12br
12br
10And I'd say either 11i10jumped 11b10out12b10 of their skin12i10 or 11i10skins12i10.12br
12br
10CJ1
0
0
0 They are different constructions. In the first, the idiom "a piece of cake" could be replaced by the word "easy", and so no agreement with the subject is needed. 0-
0
0
0 01blockquote
00no rule concerning this?12blockquote
10No, not really. There is only the general principle that idioms are extremely resistant to any sort of modification. Just the change of 01i00a02i00 to 01i00the02i00 or a similar minor difference within an idiom will stand out as strange to a native sp
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