80. We have many words in our language taken from other languages. They do not form the plural in these languages as we do, and some of these words retain their foreign plurals. Some of the most commonly used of these nouns are the following:
81. The following nouns are treated as singular: news, pains (meaning care), acoustics, mathematics, economics, ethics, molasses, physics, politics, and other nouns ending in ics except athletics. With these always use the s-form of the verb. For example:
- The news is distorted. Not, The news are distorted.
- Economics is an important study. Not, Economics are, etc.
82. The following nouns are always plural:
- alms
- annals
- amends
- antipodes
- bellows
- billiards
- clothes
- dregs
- eaves
- fireworks
- hysterics
- measles
- mumps
- matins
- nippers
- nuptials
- oats
- premises
- proceeds
- pincers
- riches
- rickets
- suds
- scissors
- thanks
- tidings
- tongs
- trousers
- vitals
- victuals
- vespers
With all these nouns always use the form of the verb which is used with the plural subject. Thus:
- Alms are given.
- Riches are easily lost.
83. The following nouns have the same form for both plural and singular, corps, cannon, deer, grouse, heathen, hose, means, odds, series, sheep, species, swine, vermin, wages. You can tell whether the singular or plural is meant by the meaning of the sentence. For example:
The cannon is loaded. Here we are speaking of one cannon.