why do we use a plural word for a singular item??
Why is it we use the word sheep for 1 sheep or 3 sheep. If we talk about geese then we know there is more than 1, so should it be 1 shoop and 3 sheep like 1 goose and 3 geese??
Update:Its only a bit of fun!!!!! Lighten up!!
Update 3:eriverpipe - fyi BEER is the same in singular use and plural use as it is an irregular plural. You would only put an "s" to it if you were using a posessive apostrophe. The whole question was just a bit of fun, but unfortunatley you decided to take it out of context and look for mistakes. If thats the case then rather than check MY grammer and punctuation I should take a closer look at your own. This was only a bit of fun.
Comments
Good point - like why do we say "Trousers" even when their is only one pair (and if there is only one - how come there a pair) funny old world !
Isn't it just great how many people on Yahoo answers love to pull other people up on their grammer - I bet they are great fun to live with (not) Surprised Yahoo hasn't set up a "report abuse" for these people to use - but then that would be silly wouldn't it Eriverpipe ?
As an English teacher, I am surprised a) you do not realise that there are simply some words where the singular is the same as the plural b) that the use of more than one question mark (??) is verging on illiterate, or that a question should finish with one (after '3 sheep') and c) that the last sentence of your question makes no grammatical sense. Perhaps you mean 'when' rather than 'then' between 'geese' and 'we'. 'So' is also the incorrect word in taht sentence - you can use the incorrect 'then' from earlier instead. Also the plural of words is often not what might be expecteded ( Mouse/ mice: House/ houses). The English language is full of inconsistencies. For example, in your example above, surely the plural of Goose should be gooses, because the plural of moose is mooses. It is one of those instances where the answer 'Because that's the way it is' is the only reasonable one....
Oh... and the plural of 'beer' IS 'beers' - granted it is most correctly applied to different types/brews of beer (e.g. 'British brewers export their beers all over the world'), but I would contest that it is not incorrect to apply it to several separate glasses of beer, as per the more common usage 'e.g.' I'll get the beers in.')
Many elementary school children have a hard time determining the plural of: ox, knife, chief, city, lorry, etc
The English-speaking countries should get together and standardize or simplify certain aspects of elementary English so that it can be easier to learn by other non-native peoples around the world. There are also inconsistences in countless spellings and pronunciations which, when spoken or written become rather intelligible or repulsive.
I observed that the original English spelling and pronunciation of certain words used by the British had been modified into American version in a simpler style.
Now that you bring it up, I think it's one of those words that have been misused excessively and now it's okay to say 'panties' as opposed to just panty/pantie. Although, with men, it's always briefs/boxer briefs, as opposed to "Hey, look at my sweet brief." I'm sure there's a legitimate root for the use of panties; pants have always been referred to as a pair, so it may have carried over that underwear, or, underpants, would also carry the pair-usage, hence plural of pantie/panty/briefs/etc. Though the brassiere, in my opinion, has similar, uh, reason to be called a pair (A pair of brassiere doesn't quite ring though. And definitely not as attractive) that it remains singular may fall to the fact that it has always been used in the singular, from its conception, and that usage and/or the pant-relatedness that panties have, hasn't had a chance to alter it so. Cheers!
I think you've got it backwards. Words like sheep are singular - the plural happens to be the same.
Never try to apply logic to English! You'll end up in the funny farm.
Leaving the sheeps and shoops for a moment (it's OK, I'm from NZ - ovine are our life) The most perplexing conversation I have had recently (so it was in a pub -sue me) involves what you say when you buy a "Beck's" beer - but you want two!!!! Must be one Bocks and two Beck's????
I'm just guessing, but...
Historically, someone who had sheep, would have many sheep, because one by itself would yield very little product. So the entire stock would be called the sheep.. you'd never get one sheep by itself.
Has the word 'sheep' lost all meaning now?
Everyone always laughs at me because I say Sheeps, lol. I know it's wrong, i just think it's funny too.
Same with Grouse. You have 1 grouse and a flock of grouse. Me and my friend started making up all kinda of words for multiple grouse, like Greese and Grise...
Yeah, I was a student at the time... lol
Most of the world isn't logical so why should English be any different. Although I'm liking the shoop.
sheep sheep
Bopeep Bopeeps
deer deer
beer beers
fish fish
dish dishes
ox oxen
box boxes
goose geese
moose mooses
It's better not to think too much about such things.....
The only purpose is to create job security for English teachers.