9 Comments
At first I thought this was "his beard is drinking wine"....
(That would have been Τα γένια του πίνουν κρασί.)
Yes, and generation, genome, genius, ingenuous, nitrogen and many other words.
Edit Yes, as a collective noun it could be singular or plural. I've added it to the incubator. Thank you.
This reply is an error. While "generation" can be used as an uncountable noun it is not in the sense used here. It would mean:
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/generation
[uncountable] the production of something, especially electricity, heat, etc. the generation of electricity methods of income generation
When "generation" is used as here to mean (from the Oxford dictionary see above): 1. [countable] all the people who were born at about the same time the younger/older generation
So, the above comment is incorrect. It should be: "His generation drinks wine." as we have it in the heading of this page.
No, that's simply not true. Generation always takes the singular. Do a search in Google Books and you'll see this very clearly: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22Generation+do%22 vs https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22Generation+does%22
Many thanks for your input. Some further research verifies my statement that "generation" can be used as both singular and plural as per:
the Oxford Dictionary
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/generation Comment 2. Or cambridge:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/generation [ C, + sing/pl verb ] all the people of about the same age within a society or within a particular family:**
Or for an American English version: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/generation "1. countable noun..."
so I think you can understand my reply.
We could very well say: "Older generations drank wine."
So while the sentence "His generation drink wine." should not have been accepted and I'll edit it, it is clear that the word "generation" is a countable noun.
As an uncountable noun "generation" means (again from Oxford)
"6. [uncountable] the production of something, especially electricity, heat, etc. the generation of electricity methods of income generation."
Edit Yes, as a collective noun it could be singular or plural. I've added it to the incubator. Thank you.
This reply is an error. While "generation" can be used as an uncountable noun it is not in the sense used here. It would mean:
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/generation
[uncountable] the production of something, especially electricity, heat, etc. the generation of electricity methods of income generation
When "generation" is used as here to mean (from the Oxford dictionary see above): 1. [countable] all the people who were born at about the same time the younger/older generation
So, the above comment is incorrect. It should be: "His generation drinks wine." as we have it in the heading of this page.
