Is this a hundred dollars note or a hundred dollar note?

13/5/2015

Today's blog post is about an unusual aspect of noun use in English that many Hong Kong writers are unaware of. it leads to frequent errors in their writing.

In English, it's common to put nouns in front of other nouns to qualify them, for example 'brick wall'. Both 'brick' and 'wall' are nouns, but when we put 'brick' in front of 'wall' to qualify its meaning, we are using the word 'brick' almost as if it is a kind of adjective.

The wall is brick.
It is a brick wall.

Our focus today is on those occasions when we use a *plural* noun in front of another noun as a kind of adjective. This is the usage that is commonly handled incorrectly in Hong Kong.

Our picture shows a Hong Kong $100 note. You can see, written on the note in English, the words 'One Hundred Dollars'. No doubt that the word 'dollars' here is plural, right?

What happens though when we want to use this plural noun expression in front of another noun, like the noun 'note' for example? Which of the following sentences is correct?

Do you have any one hundred dollars notes in your pocket?
Do you have any one hundred dollar notes in your pocket?

Many Hong Kong writers would select the first of these two sentences. After all, they would say, that's what it stays on the front of the note: ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS.

Unfortunately, this is INCORRECT. The reason is that, in English, when we move a plural noun expression in front of another noun to qualify it, the plural expression is changed to singular -- like in the second sentence above ('one hundred dollar').

This rule applies in pretty much every case where a plural noun expression -- especially one that includes a number -- is placed in front of another noun to qualify it (like an adjective).

She went on a holiday for five days.

NOT - She went on a five days holiday
BUT - She went on a five day holiday

I have a schedule of 10 interviews to handle.

NOT - I have a 10 interviews schedule to handle
BUT - I have a 10 interview schedule to handle

The journey was 200 kilometres

NOT - It was a 200 kilometres journey
BUT - It was a 200 kilometre journey

The rule applies also for plural nouns that are not formed in the traditional way by adding -s, like 'children':

The bus has special seats for children

NOT - The bus has special children seats
BUT - The bus has special child seats.

In summary: if you are putting a plural noun expression in front of another noun to qualify it, then the plural noun must normally be turned into a singular noun.

4 Comments

9/3/2017 10:25:41 pm

How about 'listening skills training' instead of 'listening skill training'?

Simon

10/3/2017 05:01:41 am

That's a good question, and touches on something I haven't mentioned in this blog post -- the difference between countable and uncountable nouns in these kinds of pre-modifying expressions.

Clearly, if the pre-modifying noun is uncountable, then it can't be pluralised (because uncountable nouns cannot be pluralised):

- swimming instructor
- health check
- air pollution

If the pre-modifiying noun is a countable noun, then (as my blog post discusses) it is generally used in the singular form:

- lie detector (not lies detector)
- dog food (not dogs food)
- train timetable (not trains timetable)

The example you give, 'language skills training', uses three nouns, of which the second is in the plural. here I think the word 'skills' is pluralised to make clear that it is a countable noun here, not an uncountable one. The word 'skill' can be used as an uncountable noun to mean 'a general ability to do something well', and as a countable noun to mean 'a particular or specialised ability'. In other words, this expression does not mean 'training to acquire skill in language' (uncountable), but 'training to acquire skills in language' (countable). In sum, if there is some ambiguity about whether the pre-modifying noun is countable or uncountable, we may choose to pluralise it to make clear that (a) it is a countable noun and (b) we are referring to more than one thing.

We can see this kind of contrast occurring in pre-modifying position in a few other nouns that have both countable and uncountable forms. For example:

- crime statistics [crime here is an uncountable noun, and the expression refers to illegal behaviour in general]
- Serious Crimes Unit [crimes here is a countable noun, and this expression tell us that the unit deals with specific (countable) types of illegal activity

- work schedule [work here is an uncountable noun]
- Works Department [Works here is a countable noun, with a specific meaning of 'construction activity']

The last example above illustrates another point; when countable nouns have a special meaning in the plural that they don't have in the singular, we have to use the plural form in pre-modifying position to make that meaning clear:

- glasses case (i.e. a case to hold your glasses -- the expression 'glass case' has a completely different meaning)

Interestingly, countable nouns that occur only in the plural in everyday speech still change to singular in pre-modifying position:

- Has anyone seen my trousers?
- He bought a trouser press.

- Pass me the scissors
- I need a scissor sharpener

Louis

8/6/2017 04:14:29 pm

How about "year old"?

I'm 10 years old or I'm 10 year old?

8/6/2017 06:40:35 pm

Hi Louis, thanks for your question. Although your sample sentences look similar to the types of sentences I am talking about in this post, they are actually not the same. The word 'old' is not a noun but an adjective in both cases, and when we put '10 years' in front of 'old' it becomes an adjective phrase. Put simply, when the adjective phrase is separate from the noun it describes (as in your first example), use the plural form of the noun -- 'The boy is ten years old'. However, if you bundle the adjective phrase IN FRONT of the noun it describes, you have created a compound noun phrase, and in this case the noun 'year' is put in the singular form (as described in the blog post above). So we would say "He is a ten year old boy', not 'he is a ten years old boy'. Notice that we also need to have an article in here. Sometimes in this sort of sentence, the noun is dropped out and you will see sentences like "He is a ten year old". It's important to remember that this is a short form of the full form, 'ten year old boy'. Other examples -- The wall has red bricks / It is a red brick wall. She is 2 metres tall / She is a two metre tall woman. I hope that helps!

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