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A number of substantivized adjectivesDate: 2015-10-07; view: 848. Some miscellaneous nouns denoting indefinite plurality The names of mountain ranges, some islands and countries The names of some parts of the body The names of articles of clothing consisting of two identical parts The names of instruments and tools bellows, clippers, fetters, pincers, tongs, pliers, scales, scissors, shears, tweezers, glasses (spectacles), goggles braces, (riding) breeches, briefs (panties), corduroys, flannels, knickers, knicker-bockers, shorts, suspenders (suspender-belt!), overalls, pyjamas (pyjama belt!), tights, trousers (trouser-leg), (under) pants bowels, entrails, guts, intestines (small intestine, large intestine!) 4. nouns in -s denoting places (indefinite plurality) environs, lodgings, outskirts, premises, slums, suburbs, tropics, whereabouts the Alps, the Balkans, the Rockies, the West Indies, the Netherlands (p. 56!) auspices, customs, clothes, digs, dregs, goods, grapes, hops, looks, morals, oats, remains, preserves, railings, suds the ancients, the classics, the drinkables, the eatables/edibles, the greens, the moderns, the movables, the odds, the particulars, the rapids, the shallows, the valuables
nouns of multitude (p. 57-58) Nouns of multitude are pluralia tantum judging by their pattering. Though singular in form they are used with determiners that pattern either with all nouns or with plural nouns only and always take a plural verb: CATTLE,FOLK,GENTRY,MILITIA,KINDRED,PEOPLE,POLICE, VERMIN,YOUTH.
plurals with different meanings (p. 58-59) The plurals of some nouns have two or more meanings of which one is usually similar to the singular meaning, the other(s) being different from it. In such cases the plural form has been lexicalized (it has acquired another lexical meaning, which results inhomonymy – the occurrence of words that have the same spelling and pronunciation but a different meaning).
See Blaganje-Konte, p. 58-59 for examples!
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