Tuesday, May 8, 2012

grammatical number - Correct plural form of a noun preceded by "zero"



When using zero as a quantifier, is it correct to use the singular form on the object of the quantifier, or the plural form?




It sounds confusing when I put it that way, but what I mean is: Which is correct?




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Essentially I suppose I'm asking, does "singular" mean "one" or "the opposite of more than one", as zero is not "plural" in the traditional "more than one" sense?




I'm pretty sure "days" sounds correct, but I can't be sure.


Answer



In English, every number that is not 1 is considered plural. The correct sentence is the first you wrote.




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