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abhinavsrivastava
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GMAT 1: 670 Q48 V34
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singular and plural nouns 11 Aug 2013, 22:04
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Kindly clarify the following nouns are singular or plural (is or are)-

Alumni/Alumnus
Bacteria/Bacterium
Criteria/Criterion - What is the criteria?? What are the criteia??
Formulae/Formula
Media - Media is...?? Media are...??
Phenomenon/Phenomena
Glasses - The glasses you are wearing is dirty?? are dirty??
Means
Scissors
Statistics

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singular and plural nouns 16 Aug 2013, 06:04
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abhinavsrivastava
Kindly clarify the following nouns are singular or plural (is or are)-
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Alumni (plural) /Alumnus (singular) - in spoken english we often incorrectly use alumni as singular
Bacteria (plural) /Bacterium (singular) - very common to see bacteria also used as singular
Criteria (plural) /Criterion (singular) - very common to see criteria also used as singular
Formulae (plural) /Formula (singular) - formulas is the more common plural form
Media (plural) / medium (singular) - Media has become a collective noun and therefore singular as well. The media has covered the trial since the start.
Phenomenon (plural) /Phenomena (singular) - spoken english often uses phenomenon as singular
Glasses (plural) /pair of glasses (singular) - My glasses are broken. My pair of glasses is missing.
Means (plural) - though you can make it singular. The best means of studying is to work a little each day.
Scissors (plural) / pair of scissors (singular) - like glasses
Statistics (plural) - though you can talk about the subject as singular. Statistics is really a boring subject in school.

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singular and plural nouns 16 Aug 2013, 11:37
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Since we are on the subject of singular vs plural, I will say that when you are in doubt, opt for singular.

Here are some examples of nouns that are singular:
--Collective Nouns: army, class, crowd, team
--Most Indefinite Pronouns: everybody, everything, anyone, either
--Subjects preceded by each or every
--Subject Phrases: “Having good friends IS a wonderful thing.

[Speakers of Commonwealth/British English may struggle here because in British usage, some collective nouns are plural.]

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ManSab
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singular and plural nouns 26 Nov 2017, 10:24
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KyleWiddison
I believe Phenomenon (plural) /Phenomena (singular) is reverse Phenomenon (Singular) /Phenomena (Plural)
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singular and plural nouns 28 Dec 2023, 02:56
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Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

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