Friday, September 30, 2016

nouns - Is "mathematics" singular or plural?


I always say "mathematics is funny" (ok, maybe many of you disagree about the adjective), but then I noticed that "mathematics" seems to be a plural, like the Greek word from which it derives.


Am I correct in using the verb in singular form?
And are there other words like this one?



Answer



Whilst a dictionary search shows that the word is singular but plural in form, it is most commonly used (in my experience) with a verb in singular form.



Math(ematic)s is my least favourite subject.



Math(ematic)s is really hard.



This Ngram viewer helps: enter image description here


Link to Ngram


EDIT: As @Araucaria points out, the "mathematics are" examples in the Ngram above are not really relevant. See his comment below.


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