What is your numerical definition of plural?

Integer number greater than 1

Equal or greater than 2

That is when we have to use plural in English I think.

1 dog not 1 dogs

2 dogs not 2 dog

func pluralizeFor( object: String, count: Int ) -> String
{
if object == “Moose” || count < 2
{
return object
}
else
{
return object.append( “s” )
}
}

There may be a few bugs in this implementation ;p

Plurality is a concept about numbers of things (meaning more than one). It’s not about other kinds of numerical values such as 1.01, or -3, neither of which can be answers to “how many cows are there”.

So not only does it only to apply to positive integers (or zero), it only applies to quantities of countable things.

Integer number greater than 1

Pondering and building on this, negative numbers are included. So I say “integer number with an absolute value greater than one.”

If my account dips below zero, I can have negative three dollars in the bank.

You guys so fancy with your integers and negatives. Personally, I have never eaten one and a half hot dog.

Grammatically speaking, plural often signifies “not one” rather than “two or more”, though this depends on language and dialect. For example, you could say “there are no solutions” even though “no” here means zero. (But you could also use the singular in this example, i.e. “there is no solution”). Cf. “he earned zero dollars yesterday” or “I measured 0.3. meters”. Likewise, singular tends to simply signify the default form of the noun, even if it can’t actually be counted. A noun like “physics” can’t really be one or two, thus it takes the singular: “physics is my field of study”.

@canidmajor, that’s exactly how many hot dogs I do usually eat.

I guess I would say that’s both plural and not plural: one and not-one. (Touch of zen there.) But in fact I’m not thinking about grammar when I’m having a hot dog.

Great. Now I will be.

@Jeruba The plurality (or not) of all things hot-doggian is/are never far from my mind. ;-)

Plain and simple, more than one

Craving 1.5 hot dogs now.