User:Brett/plural-only nouns
"The nouns in [34ii] have to do with compensation and reward for what has been done... . For most, the singular form exists, but not with the standard sense relation to the plural. Wages simply means “pay”; compare I haven’t received this week’s wages yet and There has been little increase in the average weekly wage this year. Returns differs little from one sense of return: I’m not satisfied with the return/returns on my investment. (CGEL, p. 344)
"The nouns in [34iii] are used in relatively formal expressions of feelings: Please accept my condolences; My father sends his regards. Thanks and congratulations might be added here or in [ii]."
"Finally, [34iv] contains a set of miscellaneous plural-only nouns. Heads and tails apply in the tossing of coins. Elders means “those who are older”: Show more respect for your elders. Eye-drops can be a straightforward plural of eye-drop (He put two eye-drops in each eye), but in a bottle of eye-drops it denotes a quantity of liquid. Plural-only non-count brains is seen in examples like Use your brains or She has brains (which is close in meaning to She has a good brain); contrast the ordinary count brains of She examined the brains of the victims. Others that can also be ordinary plurals with a count sense are: customs (as in customs and excise); grounds (the palace grounds); looks (Kim has good looks); spirits (They are in good spirits). Folks is used with genitive determiners in the same meaning as family, and is informal in style: My folks are pretty dumb. It can also be used as a form of address, and is not restricted in this case to family members: goodbye, folks! (For folk as a plural form, see §3.2.2 below.)"
- [34iv] alms credentials genitals heads looks reams arrears customs grassroots heavens mains spirits ashes elders greens holidays leanings minutes tails auspices eye-drops grounds humanities odds troops brains folks guts letters particulars wits
"Most of the nouns in [34] not only lack a singular form but also exclude cardinal numerals with the plural: *seven amends; *three folks of mine. However, minutes “written record of a meeting” is marginally countable: Three separate minutes were kept of the meeting. Similarly with arrears: There are three separate arrears on this account."