“There Are Exceptions After All”: Nouns with Special Number Handling

Hello! I am the English Professor.

In a previous article, I talked about the properties of countable and uncountable nouns⇊
The countability of nouns is not a fixed property for each individual noun, but rather quite flexible, is the gist of it.

Even so, there are exceptions after all.
It is a language, after all.

So, this time, I will pick up a few nouns that have special number handling!

Basically, nouns with special number handling are those where the subject has collective properties.
There are two patterns as follows.

① Those always treated as singular
② Those always treated as plural

A famous example of pattern ① is the uncountable noun "money".

I was surprised when I learned that "money" is uncountable.
I thought, "What! Money is something you count!"

According to Wikipedia, the definition of "money" is as follows.

"Money" is something that society as a whole recognizes as a common means of exchange for valuable goods and services.
In other words, "money" can be called a "concept".

The concept of "money" does not have a concrete shape, and there is no unit for counting it one by one.
We don't say "one money, two moneys," do we?

What we actually count are "bills" or "coins," and "money" is what conceptually represents them.
That is why "money" cannot be counted.

"furniture" is the same.
What we count are individual types of furniture like "chair," "desk," or "sofa," and the concept of "furniture" itself, which collectively represents them, cannot be counted.

Such nouns basically never become countable nouns.
They are uncountable nouns that cannot express a specific quantity with the indefinite article a/an or numerals.

⇒ cutlery, footwear, information, luggage, jewelry, machinery, underwear

Next, type ②.
The way of thinking is similar to "nouns always treated as singular in ①," and they are nouns that represent "a collective term for things belonging to the same category."
However, they are always treated as plural.

For example, "cattle".
It is a noun meaning "livestock cows."

"These cattle are raised for their meat."
"These cattle are raised for their meat."

Since it is treated as plural, the be-verb is "are," and demonstratives and pronouns use "these" and "their."
Since "cattle" already has a plural meaning, it does not become "*cattles."
"*a cattle" and "*one cattle" are also not allowed.

Words that represent "cow" include "cow," "bull," and "ox," but these have a distinction between singular and plural.
(In fact, there are even differences in gender.)
"Cattle" is the word that collectively refers to all of these as "livestock cows."

Since livestock cattle are raised in large numbers in herds, the entire group is collectively referred to by the single word "cattle".
However, since the contents of "cattle" are individual animals, it feels like they are treated as plural.

⇒ people, livestock, poultry, offspring, police

《English Grammar Rules to Remember Today》

Nouns that represent a collective term for things belonging to the same category (i.e., nouns where the subject has collective properties) do not freely move between "countable and uncountable" or "singular and plural."