"(noun) list" ... is (noun) singular or plural? Thread poster: Jason Shim
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Jason Shim 
South Korea
Local time: 04:29
English to Korean
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Dear colleagues,
Hi. I've been a translator for 10 years, and this is one question that always keeps me wondering, so I thought I'd ask what other translators think.
I'm currently working on a software GUI.
A recurring term is "( ) List"
The ( ) can be an Object / Folder or any other noun.
For example,
Grocery List / Groceries List
Guest List / Guests List
Object List / Objects List
Customer List / Customers Li... See more Dear colleagues,
Hi. I've been a translator for 10 years, and this is one question that always keeps me wondering, so I thought I'd ask what other translators think.
I'm currently working on a software GUI.
A recurring term is "( ) List"
The ( ) can be an Object / Folder or any other noun.
For example,
Grocery List / Groceries List
Guest List / Guests List
Object List / Objects List
Customer List / Customers List
Client List / Clients List
Assuning that the ( ) is not a person, such as a user, and using an apastrophe, and using "List of (pl. noun)" are out of the question, what do you see as correct? Singular or plural?
I feel that using singular is incorrect, since a list contains more than one item.
But then, Object List feels more natural Objects List at times.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this matter.
Is plural correct if being strictly gramatical, or perhaps are both accepted.
Thanks.
[Edited at 2013-03-24 07:29 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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I’d use singular for all these cases.
[Edited at 2013-03-24 08:08 GMT]
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In the examples you presented I would also use singular nouns. If I get it correctly in these phrases (noun +noun) the first noun acts as an adjective because it expresses an attribute of the noun "list". Consider such examples like "history teacher", "ticket office" etc.
| | | | Jason Shim
South Korea
Local time: 04:29
English to Korean
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
I guess I thought that one through too much.
Thank you for all your help.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 21:29
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
The question is a bit confusing.
Are you asking whether a noun pre-modifier is in singular? Yes, it normally is.
If it's in plural then it may be a genitive, but that's a different function/meaning, eg:
the clients' premises (specific)
client premises (general)
[Edited at 2013-03-24 09:26 GMT]
| | | | Giles Watson
Italy
Local time: 21:29
Italian to English
In memoriam | Perceived as singular, even if it's plural | Mar 24, 2013 |
As Lingua 5B says, a noun premodifier is singular. In fact, it's singular even if it isn't.
For instance, an educational institution can have a "sports director" where "sports" is a single area of management activity. Even the White House has a "communications director", not a "communication director", suggesting that that the individual concerned is in charge of managing various channels of presidential communication.
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Noun list is simply a list of nouns.
| | | | | Finds list vs. error list | Mar 24, 2013 |
I am wondering if there is a mental element in speakers' minds of collective use of some nouns in these contexts. "Errata", "list of errata", "sheet of errors", "list of errors" are all correct — but it is always "error list" in the singular. Yet "list of finds" is always "finds list", not "find list", even though a found object in the singular is correctly "a find".
Several of the examples Jason highlights where singular + "list" is correct are of nouns describing the roles or fu... See more I am wondering if there is a mental element in speakers' minds of collective use of some nouns in these contexts. "Errata", "list of errata", "sheet of errors", "list of errors" are all correct — but it is always "error list" in the singular. Yet "list of finds" is always "finds list", not "find list", even though a found object in the singular is correctly "a find".
Several of the examples Jason highlights where singular + "list" is correct are of nouns describing the roles or functions (of people, but the same may obtain grammatically of nouns describing the roles or functions of inanimate objects): "customer/client base" is also the correct form, not with '-s'.
Alex ▲ Collapse
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| List of things or persons | Mar 24, 2013 |
No matter, list is followed by singular-a list of things is made to include; a list of persons is made. A list consists of more than 1thing/person, activity but is always singular. Hope it is clear, gl
| | | | Phil Hand
China
Local time: 03:29
Chinese to English
| noun + noun, the first noun must be in its root form | Mar 24, 2013 |
In a phrase of that type
"book list"
we have two nouns stuck together. The first noun is modifying the second noun. It's acting a little bit like an adjective. In this situation, the modifying noun must be in its base form, without any ending.
It's always that way:
football game
bead necklace
brick house
monkey enclosure
| | | | Jason Shim
South Korea
Local time: 04:29
English to Korean
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you for all your helpful comments.
It seems that "singular noun + list" is the correct answer.
For some reason, I thought it would be plural because a list contains more than one.
After the I posted the comment, I thought about "Passenger manifest"... which is pretty much a list, and yet I've never heard of "passengers manifest"....
Thank you everyone,
cheers.
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How about passenger's manifest or passengers' manifest?
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John Fossey
Canada
Local time: 15:29
Member (2008)
French to English
+ ...
| Manifest doesn't belong to the passenger(s) | Mar 26, 2013 |
George Hopkins wrote:
How about passenger's manifest or passengers' manifest?
I believe it should be a passenger manifest (no apostrophe). The apostrophe here signifies possession and the manifest belongs to the company, not to the passenger (passenger's manifest) nor even to the whole group of passengers (passengers' manifest).
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Phil Hand wrote:
we have two nouns stuck together. The first noun is modifying the second noun. It's acting a little bit like an adjective. In this situation, the modifying noun must be in its base form, without any ending.
It's always that way:
I always tell my pupils that the word on the right is the general word and the one(s) on the left descibe(s) the type of whatever the word on the right is:
weekend
ice cream
strawberry ice creams
We then get the position of where something is:
the beginning of the film
the top of the class
Lastly, we get the genitive, in which case something belongs to someone:
Anne's nose
the children's dog
| | | | | Varieties of English -singular vs plural | Jul 17, 2020 |
I've run across this question before. I confronted it in a Welsh learning group in which British ex-pats were members. It turns out that Welsh prefers using the plural of nouns in the context you mentioned (Welsh even has a double-plural, a plural of the plural). This is also true of British English, where American English would use the singular. A noun can almost always be used as an adjective in English; British English more often prefers that a noun used this way be in the plural. That's why ... See more I've run across this question before. I confronted it in a Welsh learning group in which British ex-pats were members. It turns out that Welsh prefers using the plural of nouns in the context you mentioned (Welsh even has a double-plural, a plural of the plural). This is also true of British English, where American English would use the singular. A noun can almost always be used as an adjective in English; British English more often prefers that a noun used this way be in the plural. That's why one can write "passengers manifest" in the British usage, but it would be considered by Americans (perhaps most Canadians and Australians also) odd without the apostrophe-s. Americans would write "passenger manifest". ▲ Collapse
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