Hi

In my gdare school, I have learnt that
to Pluralize it is to use ' Numbers of Student'
not 'number of Students'

But now a days, I can see the 'Number of Students' is being used to mean a group of students.

Which is corect?


Thank you.

Nasrin.

Only plural "students" is correct because "number" means more than one. But "number" can be singular or plural depending on the intended meaning:

(1) A number of students have been found smoking.

(2) Huge numbers of students were found getting drunk all over town.

The meaning in (1) is that some students (more than one) were found smoking. But (2) implies that many large groups of students were found getting drunk in various places in town.



PaulM