plural investigation

@WBYeats,

WBYeats wrote:

Are they both correct?:

-We have been engineering/business/Japanese/English/science majors since 2006.
-We have been a engineering/business/Japanese/English/science major since 2006.

What are they supposed to mean?

3 Replies

@contrex,

-We have been majors in engineering/business/Japanese/English/science since 2006.

0 Replies

@contrex,

They are supposed to refer to undergraduates who study a particular subject at uni/at college.Like this:

-She's a French major.(=She studies French as an undergraduate.)

Do you mean in the UK you never use MAJOR like this?

1 Reply

@contrex,

The second sentence can't use WE with 'a'.

I am a ...

0 Replies

@WBYeats,

WBYeats wrote:

Do you mean in the UK you never use MAJOR like this?

It's a North American usage. In the UK education system, students at university have one or more 'main' or 'principal' subjects and other 'subsidiary' subjects. All must be passed to get a degree.

1 Reply

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

In the UK education system...

Also in other countries of the Commonwealth of Nations (formerly the British Commonwealth), including Australia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Ghana, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Trinidad and Tobago.

0 Replies

I see no differences.

..................................................................................................................
http://www.soran.edu.iq/

1 Reply

@redalert8,

What variety of English do you use as 1st L?

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

WBYeats wrote:

What variety of English do you use as 1st L?

redalert8 is a SPAMMER.

0 Replies

Is the plural optional and is there any difference?:

-The personality/personalities of Americans, Spaniards and Japanese is/are different.

2 Replies

Do you agree with me?

Both correct:

-Either listen or play with your mobile phone, don't write down anything.(each person with one phone, so singular)
-Either listen or play with your mobile phones, don't write down anything.(though each person one phone; more than one person, so together more than one phone; so plural)

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

Plural not optional in this case.

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

I think both are correct, but I would rather say "...don't write anything", or "...don't write anything down".

1 Reply

@McTag,

Thank you!

How about my previous questions?

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

How about them?

0 Replies

@McTag,

By 'plural (being) not optional', do you mean it must be used or must NOT be used?

0 Replies

@WBYeats,

Quote:

Is the plural optional and is there any difference?:

-The personality/personalities of Americans, Spaniards and Japanese is/are different.

Since you are comparing three nationalities, this would lead me to use the plural.

At a stretch, you could use the singular without loss of clarity, but I think the plural is more natural in this case. The verb in each case would need to be plural- another reason to choose a plural subject.

0 Replies

All singular
The personality of a Scotsman is different from that of a Welshman or a Swede.

All plural
The personalities of Scotsmen, Welshmen and Swedes are different

The idea being expressed is a stupid and false one.

0 Replies

plural investigation

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