[Ads-l] "information" as a plural

[Stanton McCandlish]

I would expect to only see it in complex sentences like the quoted one,
with constructions that seem to "beg" for plurals.   If someone just wrote
"I'm certain my information are correct", I think a supermajority of
readers would consider it an error, maybe even if they heard that in
conversation rather than saw it in an article.  But I wouldn't be terribly
surprised if that reaction changed within 10 to 15 years.


On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 10:20 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Statistically it may no longer be an "error." I've been watching this for
> years, and it's now so common that the logically correct form now seems to
> me to be far less frequent, at least in speech.
>
> I see it more and more in edited writing as well.
>
> JL
>
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 1:12 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.
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 10:05 AM Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Trendily agrees with "allies," the nearest preceding noun. "Team and"
> > > doesn't hurt either.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 12:45 PM Stanton McCandlish <
> > smccandlish at gmail.com
> > > >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > From today's *WashPost*: "We’ve learned the extent to which Trump’s
> > > > insistences about the election having been stolen were predicated on
> > > > information that his team and his allies knew were unfounded."
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/22/somehow-were-still-learning-depths-trumps-dishonesty/
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > 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."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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