[Ads-l] "information" as a plural

[Laurence Horn]

> On Oct 3, 2021, at 11:48 AM, Stanton McCandlish <smccandlish at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Weird. That one's kind of the opposite of the common trend, to turn "there
> are" into "there's" even before clearly plural constructions ("There's 13
> geese on my lawn.”)

Right, but that’s invariant “there’s”, not to be conflated with singular “there is”:

There’s 13 geese on the lawn, aren’t there?/*isn’t there?  

I think this use of invariant “there’s” regardless of number of the “pivot” noun has been around for some time—not sure how long.
> 
> 
> On Fri, Oct 1, 2021 at 7:05 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> 
>> Just heard on the radio that “there are a chance of showers Monday
>> night”.  Unlike “a whirlwind of”, this can’t even be read as a quantifier.
>> 
>> 
>>> On Sep 29, 2021, at 7:05 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Chloe Melas, entertainment reporter, CNN, just now:
>>> 
>>> "There have been a whirlwind of petitions filed since."
>>> 
>>> I wonder alternatively if people are hypercorrecting the dreaded "There
>> is."
>>> 
>>> However, "petitions," not whirlwind, is salient.
>>> 
>>> JL
>>> 
>>> On Sat, Sep 25, 2021 at 4:41 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
>>> 
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Quorum.com:
>>>> 
>>>> "There are scarring on my lungs."
>>>> 
>>>> Plural "lungs" is the noun that gets the most emphasis, vocally and
>>>> topically.
>>>> 
>>>> Though Swedish, the writer is fluent in English. He also writes, "while
>>>> factors like age, obesity, and preexisting conditions do affect those
>>>> chances of death or complications, your 'strong immune system' is
>> actually
>>>> not a factor of getting infected."  (OK, so he uses "of" instead of
>> "in.")
>>>> 
>>>> JL
>>>> 
>>>> On Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 5:08 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>> I'm familiar with "the data is", which certainly isn't plural, but I'm
>>>>> pretty sure I haven't encountered a plural "datas". So I think the
>>>>> singular
>>>>> "data" is really a mass noun, like "information" (in traditional
>> usage),
>>>>> "evidence", "music", "money", "progress", and many others.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Mark Mandel
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 1:13 PM Stanton McCandlish <
>> smccandlish at gmail.com
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Yes, I can see how the error happened, but it's still an error.
>>>>>> Unless we're seeing an actual shift.  It wouldn't be the first time
>>>>> there's
>>>>>> been one in this sort of term.  E.g. "data", a plural, has become
>>>>>> frequently used in the singular, while "datum" recedes into obscurity.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> --
>>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org