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Singular and plural forms are marked from the general form. The general is used when the specific number is deemed irrelevant or unimportant. In this system, the singular is often called the singulative, to distinguish it as derived from a different form. Similarly, the plural derived from the general has been called the plurative. [195]
The plural forms are usually -os and -as respectively. Adjectives ending in -ish can be used as collective demonyms (e.g. "the English", "the Cornish"). So can those ending in -ch / -tch (e.g. "the French", "the Dutch") provided they are pronounced with a 'ch' sound (e.g. the adjective Czech does not qualify).
If the latter meaning is intended, the word (though singular in form) may be treated as if it were a plural, in that it may take a plural verb and be replaced with a plural pronoun: (in British English) the government are considering their position (alternatively the government is considering its position).
Adjectives may be formed by the addition of affixes to a base from another category of words. For example, the noun recreation combines with the suffix -al to form the adjective recreational. Prefixes of this type include a-+ noun (blaze → ablaze) and non-+ noun (stop → non-stop).
Sometimes, words can change meaning depending on whether the dual or plural form is used, for example; ʿayin can mean eye or water spring in the singular, but in the plural eyes will take the dual form of ʿenayim whilst springs are ʿeynot. Adjectives, verbs, and pronouns have only singular and plural, with the plural forms of these being ...
A Phrase of the form The+Adjective is plural. - The rich plan for tomorrow, the poor for today. Some words appear singular but are plural: police, cattle, etc. [5] - Where the cattle stand together, the lion lies down hungry. When the word enemy is used in the sense of armed forces another nation a plural verb is used. Singular or Plural
The word statistics ultimately comes from the Latin word Status, meaning "situation" or "condition" in society, which in late Latin adopted the meaning "state". Derived from this, political scientist Gottfried Achenwall, coined the German word statistik (a summary of how things stand).
An adjective (abbreviated adj.) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase.Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main parts of speech of the English language, although historically they were classed together with nouns. [1]