singular

Definition:

The simplest form of a noun (the form that appears in a dictionary): a category of number denoting one person, thing, or instance. Contrast with plural. See also:

• Mass Noun
• Count Noun
• Singular Plurals--or How Two Rats Became a Rose
• Media and Medium
• Plurale Tantum

Etymology:

From the Latin, "only one"

Examples and Observations:

• "I'm not a thief, I'm a scavenger. Like the majestic vulture, the heroic tapeworm and America's sweetheart: the maggot."
  (Homer Simpson, The Simpsons)



• "Remember: 'Y'all' is singular. 'All y'all' is plural. 'All y'all's' is plural possessive."
  (Kinky Friedman)



• "I've got a good mind to join a club and beat you over the head with it."
  (Groucho Marx, Duck Soup)



• "What a singular boy!" the Lord Chancellor whispered to himself: but Bruno had caught the words.
  
  "What do it mean to say 'a singular boy'?" he whispered to Sylvie.
  
  "It means one boy," Sylvie whispered in return. "And plural means two or three."
  
  "Then I’s welly glad I is a singular boy!” Bruno said with great emphasis. “It would be horrid to be two or three boys! P’raps they wouldn’t play with me!”
  (Lewis Carroll, Bruno and Sylvie Concluded, 1893)



• "The number system applies primarily to nouns and NPs--with the number of an NP generally but not invariably matching that of its head noun. The system is relevant in four main areas of the grammar:

  i Noun inflection: characteristically, plural nouns are morphologically marked (dog - s) while singular nouns are unmarked, identical with the lexical base (dog).
  ii Agreement and selection within the NP: this dog vs these dogs (agreement), a dog but several dogs (selection).
  iii Pronoun-antecedent agreement: My dog hid its bone vs My dogs hid their bones.
  iv Subject-verb agreement: The dog likes her vs The dogs like her.

  (R. Huddleston and G. K. Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, 2002)

Pronunciation: SIN-gyu-lerr