Singular or plural?

Question

In Korea, 97 percent of students answered that their schools have a uniform.  ?Why singular?The number of schools which adopt school uniforms is increasing.  ?Why plural?

Teechr · Accepted Answer

Those sentences are not well written. However, to answer your questions:

chiakingthat their schools have a uniform. ?Why singular?

I suppose it's because "uniforms" might imply that each school has more than one uniform.

chiakingnumber of schools which adopt school uniforms is increasing. ?Why plural?

As I said, that sentence is poorly written. I think the singular would work better in it.

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Note, however, these rules:

1- When we talk about something in general, we use the plural if that thing is a countable.

For example,

School uniforms help maintain discipline.

2- When we talk about a specific instance(s) of something, we need to consider the use of articles/determiners.

For example,

My primary school had a really nice uniform.

She needs two uniforms for her job, one for summer and one for winter.

The staff uniform in my previous workplace was expensive.

Singular or plural?

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