Pluralia tantum and whatnots

Plurale tantum is a noun that appears only in the plural and doesn't ordinarily have a singular form

Quick read: To get a better grasp of this newsletter, you may take some minutes to read Nuances in noncount nouns explained.

In English, pluralia tantum are often words that denote objects that occur or function as pairs or sets, such as spectacles, trousers, pants, scissors, sunglasses, binoculars, headphones etc.

Pluralia Tantum are nouns that do not have a singular form. It sometimes may seem that they have, but the singular has then quite a different meaning, or it is from a completely different word class, so you cannot consider the singular and plural to be the same word.

Other examples are pyjamas, tights, shorts, knickers. What you may have noticed here in pluralia tantum is that they are always considered in twos or “forever” exist as pairs or sets.

These pluralia tantum attract plural verbs and “them” as a pronoun, not “it”. We can also use a pair of to specify the number of what we are talking about. The agreement with the verb, then, depends on the how many pairs we are talking about as you can see from the examples below.

1. Your glasses are nice. Where did you buy it them?

2. I bought three pairs of trousers for my presentation.

3. A pair of scissors is needed in my shop.

There are other nouns that are only singular and they attract singular verbs, even though they end in -s. 

These include:

1. names of academic subjects such as classics, economics, mathematics/maths, physics, statistics;

2. physical activities such as gymnastics and aerobics;

3. games such as Snakes and Ladders, Draughts, Darts;

4. diseases such as measles and mumps;

5. and the words news and series.

For example:

1. When I was in secondary school, physics was one of the best subjects I liked.

2. The news of his appointment is all over the town,

3. Snakes and ladders is Esther’s favourite game.

4. The explosion was the latest in a series of accidents.

Other nouns that are always plural in form are surroundings, headquarters, savings, premises, outskirts, rites, belongings, thanks, likes/dislikes, congratulations, earnings, goods, remains etc.

All these nouns cannot appear without “s” hence they attract plural verbs.

For example:

1. The company has moved to its new premises.

2. INEC national headquarters are in Abuja,

3. Congratulations on your recent appointment as the chairman of the board.

4. His remains have been buried.

5. His foreign goods have been confiscated by some immigration officers.

I hope I have been able to discuss what pluralia tantum and other whatnots are in English. This is the foundation of subject-verb agreement in grammar, so it is useful to master their usage well.

If you have got a question or two, please leave a comment down in the comment box.

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Yours in English,

Francis