A correspondent on BBC World asked a question “How is the news being received in Iraq?” Does it mean that “the news” is singular or I didn't understand something?
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A correspondent on BBC World asked a question “How is the news being received in Iraq?” Does it mean that “the news” is singular or I didn't understand something?
Yes, it is singular. I also was kind of surprised when I learned that and probably even now I haven't quite got used to it.
No, it's not really singular. It's uncountable. The use of 'the' doesn't tell you whether it's singular or plural; you can say 'the apples' just as easily as you can say 'the apple'.
It's like water, or salt (and no, don't tell me about countable context for water please, I know already..)
To make it countable, use 'piece'.
I heard a bad piece of news today.
or you can use some, as you can with any uncountable noun:
some news
some water
some information
Actually, come to think of it, 'some news' is much more common than 'a piece of news', if that matters.
The "blues" is also singular (for the musical genre), but I think it is plural when meaning depressed.
The Blues was developed in New Orleans
Now I'm confused. "How is the news being recieved in Iraq?" Is = singular. If "news" were plural, it would be "How are the news being recieved in Iraq" which sounds completely aweful. Or am I missing something?
news is actully plural, the way you use it. It all depends on how you use it.
emka71aln, is English your second Language? Where are you from? I thought you were a native English speaker :? , sorry I was confused...
News is actually plural, yes. And most ways Ive seen it, its always used this way. (not usually singular)
yea, its confusing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Евгения(Женя)
ive heard people say "I've got some news" which is ususally singular i dont know..all i know is, its plural!
Yeah, I'm a native English speaker (American English). I'm just no good at grammar and very easily confused. I know how I say things, and rarely think about why.
Ding ding ding! Waxwing gets the prize.
But please remember, however, that "the media"= plural. As in, "The media are President Bush's buttmonkeys." This is one of the most tragically misused words in the English language. And anyone who defends the use of "media" with a singular verb is a hoser, so don't even start :evil: :wink:
Don't forget "data". Each time I hear "data is" I want to kill the idiot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Линдзи
(serious title music.. cut to over-coiffeured woman ..)Quote:
Originally Posted by begemot
Dobry vecher. Here is the blues.
or
Dobry vecher. Here are the blues.
:lol: :lol:
Good lord, I'm easily amused, eh? :lol:
I got the blues when I heard the news about the death of the blues.
Thanks, now when I will use word “news” I will think about Russian word “кирпич.” Grammatically it is used as a singular noun but actually it is plural.
“Я купил немного кирпича” means not “I've bought a piece of brick” but “I've bought a number of bricks”
:lol: :lol: :lol:
pookie123 wrote:
See ladies, it's not how much of it there is, it's how you use it... :roll:Quote:
news is actully plural, the way you use it. It all depends on how you use it.
[quote=bad manners]Don't forget "data". Each time I hear "data is" I want to kill the idiot.[/quote:1a965e8u]Quote:
Originally Posted by "Линдзи":1a965e8u
OH, I KNOW. Idiots! Idiots! Datum-Data! Medium-Media! Aagh!
Wow, this is so weird. I'm bonding with bad manners.
Clearly, shared hatred of the misuse of latinate words is the key to international cooperation.
Well, Lindzi old pal, do you say 'musea' instead of 'museums'? Or 'fora' instead of 'forums'? Wouldn't think so... So what's the difference between that and using 'data' and 'media' as singular nouns?
I do not know about you, but I say "matrices", "indices","phenomena", "formulae" and so on. Some Latin words are simply less bastardized than the others.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jasper May
I can cope with someone saying, say, "formulas," although it grates on my ears. "Mediums" is fine (although "datums" just sounds idiotic). Pluralizing words according to standard English practices is one thing, misusing an already pluraized word is quite another. Using "media" or "data" as a singular noun is simply wrong, because they are not singular, they are already plural, and singular forms of each verb exist. Would you say "the matricies is entered into the computer" or "the formulae is hard to solve?" No. 'cuz it's WRONGO. Same with "media" and "data."Quote:
Originally Posted by Jasper May
Well, the word "news" is singular indeed (at least in all gramar books), only not all English-speaking people know it... I remember I read a story of Mark Twain about a provoncial newspaper who was also astonished at this fact, when he known it should be "the news is..." and not "the news are...".
By he way, the countable and uncountable nouns may be different in different languages, for example "advice". And this peculiar usage: I want to give you a piece of advice.
Well, uncountable nouns in English are always treated as singular, aren't they?
Water is a liquid.
Information is power.
Are there examples of uncountable nouns (more accurately, nouns used in an uncountable context for which we would use 'are'?
(hmm i just thought of the weird example 'trousers'/'pants' but it doesn't really fit I think..)
Of course it goes without saying that 'uncountable' is not language-independent. I remember being most amused when I found out that raisins are uncountable in Russian :)
I have a vague idea that, in Russian, the plural is sometimes used with uncountable nouns...?
There are uncountable nouns ("news", "вода"), nouns that are always plural ("pants", "ножницы"), and I believe that there are also "uncountable plural nouns" in Russian ("деньги", technically it is plural, but one can't say e.g. "двое денег").Quote:
Originally Posted by waxwing
@Lindzi: 'kay then, understood and agreed with. But what about 'bus' then? Isn't that an abbreviation for the dative plural or 'omnia'- omnibus (for everyone)? So how would you pluralify it? Or ignoramus (1st pl.pr.ind.act. of ignorare)? :)
The French deal with the problem easily: the pronunciation stays the same, and who cares about the weird way it is written, the latter being already pervasive in the language.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jasper May
This is bound to be technically incorrect, but here is my opinion on the "news" problem:
"news" as a plural concrete noun (never used)
e.g. The news are so depressing today
"news" as a singular (obviously) abstract noun (only common usage)
e.g. The news is so depressing today
That's my understanding
*insert criticism by more erudite scholars of English*
So, in summary, is the following accurate: :?:
news is an uncountable noun in English.
In English
All uncountable nouns are treated as singular, grammatically. Therefore, to ask whether news is singular or plural has no meaning.
In Russian
Uncountable nouns can be singular or plural grammatically (деньги being an example of the latter)
Remember, silence indicates assent :wink:
я не ронимаю английский язык
@Lindzi: May I be so bold as to suggest you don't know the answer? :)