Jin
Service or services, resource or resources I am confused when I use plural form of a word. When should I use "service" instead of "services"? The two words seem to be same. For example, Their service at the restaurant was excellent. Their services at the restaurant were excellent. Which one would be correct? A man of resource or a man of resources? I know basic rules of making plural forms for common nouns; a book and some books. Are their any rules when making plural forms of abstract nouns?
Mar 4, 2015 6:32 AM
Answers · 2
For the first one, the correct anwser would be "Their service at the restaurant was excellent." Plurals for words like this can be tricky even for natives, and it depends on the context, in this case you're saying the restaurant provided A service, (preparing and serving a meal to a customer), rather than providing services. You could say however that a restaurant providees various services (such as making food, serving food, making and serving drinks, cleaning afterwords). So once again it's dependent on context. For the second one, it'd be "A man of resources." (or you could say "A resourceful man"). The reason here being what makes him a resourceful man, is his access to multiple resources. Generally speaking I'd say treat resource as a normal noun as far as singular vs plural goes. Maybe if you can give me some more examples I can help you more? Feel free to message me, I hope this helps!
March 4, 2015
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