Singular, plural and noun conundrum

Question

Friends, I'm confuse regarding the usage of countable and uncountable
noun in this sentence. Because of the obscurity of that word I'm not
been able to comprehend whether it's singular or plural. Actually, I
want to use this term in my sentence: "vote bank trust". In this
sentence I'm not sure term "vote bank" is countable noun or uncountable
noun, in other words singular or plural. Only after knowing it I can
put "s" with the word trust. So, chums help me figure out it's singular
or plural and the sentence should be : "vote bank trust" or "vote bank
trusts" ?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Razer:
Welcome to the Forums!

Believe me, you are not the only one who is confused.
You did not quote your entire sentence, and you did not give any context.
I'm not sure which word is obscure to you.

If "Vote bank trust" is your sentence, then it is imperative, and the verb is "vote".

Usually one votes for or against something, so I assume that "bank trust" is the object, and the preposition "for" was left out.

A trust is a special type of financial account. (I know because I have several, and one of them is at a bank). It is countable, because "account" itself is countable. Perhaps the sentence should be then:

Vote for bank trusts.

This means that there will be a vote, and there is some proposition on the ballot to abolish or establish a bank's right to hold trust accounts or not.

But I am really guessing, so may be totally off track. If you give more information, perhaps we can sort it out.

Joe2012 · Answer

"Believe me, you are not the only one who is confused.
You did not quote your entire sentence, and you did not give any context.
I'm not sure which word is obscure to you."

My reply: I didn't feel the need of posting whole sentence so I picked up the term about which I was confused. My apology if u didn't get.

I read your whole reply and get the feeling that u understood mine sentence in a diffrent context. So I'm giving the whole sentence for better understanding. The sentence is : Not even Ahmadinejad's vote bank trust ( or should it be trusts)him anymore. Now u got the whole sentence. Can u help me now ? Hope after getting the context u will understand my question as well.

RayH · Answer

Here's some useful context:

Despite his high-voltage campaign, Mr. Mousavi is well aware that he has a tough fight ahead; with defeat a distinct possibility. Mr. Ahmadinejad is known to have an assured vote bank among the poor and the lower middle class. It is commonly perceived in Tehran’s elite circles that Mr. Ahmadinejad has around 13 million assured voters behind him.

So, it appears that "vote bank" is a term of art among English speakers in India.
See this Wikipedia article as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Votebank

I'm still unclear what "vote bank trust" might mean. Possibly that a candidate or party can "trust" its "vote bank" to do the right thing on election day?

EDIT:
I just now figured out what the OP's problem is. The article he is quoting is saying that Ahmadinejad's "vote bank" no longer trusts him (Ahmadinejad). Whew, that took a lot of work!

RayH · Answer

Razer I didn't feel the need of posting whole sentence so I picked up the term about which I was confused. My apology if u didn't get.

I hope you now understand the importance of supplying context with your questions. Pulling a word or term out of its context and expecting someone to give an explanation of its meaning is seldom useful.

RazerNot even Ahmadinejad's vote bank trust ( or should it be trusts)him anymore.

Not even Ahmadinejad's vote bank trusts him anymore.

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks for helping. But if u could shed some light on grammar aspect of it then it'd would be much better. From your reply I feel u think term "vote bank" is uncoutable singular noun.. I was also thinking on these lines. But was bit confuse. Thanks once again.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Excellent sleuthing, Ray!
It is difficult to decipher such postings with a 3-word sentence (described as a sentence!) including dialectical language!

We have voting blocks in the US too - the labor unions, the Christian right, the libertarians, etc. Since there are many different blocks, that can vote along different lines, I would extrapolate that "votebank, vote-bank, vote bank" is countable, and can be plural. Wiktionary agrees LINK

Joe2012 · Answer

"I would extrapolate that "votebank, vote-bank, vote bank" is countable, and can be plural"

Oh no not again! I'll be confuse again. Ray is saying it's singular, I also feel ~~and was feeling so~~ so I believed him though I was not 100% convince. So I went to another english forum: using english and asked the same question there. On that forum one senior english teacher also told me that it's singular. So I reached to the "conclushion" that is uncountable singular noun with a grain of salt-- I'd to choose one option so I gone with the majority and my own feelings. But now when u r saying it could be plural I've started doubting my so called "conclusion"! Check this link BTW:http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/99278-singular-plural-noun-conundrum.html

Don't u think this case is similiar to money which is uncountable singular noun ? I think we need our arguments with facts and examples before reching to conclusion. Two english teacher can't say two different thing that too on grammar!

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Votebank (or vote bank) is singular, certainly, but I can make it plural by adding -s.
Suppose there are 5 candidates, each with their own vote bank.

Mr. X's votebank and Mr. Y's votebank generally voted for the amendment. The ballots from the two votebanks together caused the amendment to pass. The other three candidates' votebanks voted against it, but all together they did not have enough no votes to defeat the amendment.

EDIT: Here is the answer you got in the other forum: "Hi razer,
vote bank is singular, vote banks is plural."

Regards,
A-

s

Khoff · Answer

Please, please, please -- if you are asking people to take the time to help you with English, please take the time to spell out words like "you are" instead of using abbreviations like "u r"!!!

Joe2012 · Answer

Ok, got what u r saying. Thanks for helping me.

Singular, plural and noun conundrum

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