The singular refers to a single element.
Singular is a notion that comes from singulāris , a term from the Latin language. As an adjective , it can be used to describe that which is unusual, anomalous or surprising .
For example: "The biologists stated that it was a singular event : it is not common for an animal of this species to attack a human being" , "Given the resignation of all the members of the board of directors, the club is experiencing a unique moment" , "He is an actor with a singular talent , since he is capable of making us go from crying to laughing in a fraction of a second."
The singular, in this way, is associated with characteristics that escape normality . If we take the case of a soccer league whose teams have an average of 2.1 goals per game, with the exception of a team that scores 4.3 goals per game, it can be said that this last team has a unique offensive power .
Singular in grammar
In the field of grammar , the concept of singular refers to the quantity of a single element to which a word refers. In other words, nouns expressed in the singular refer to a single thing or a single specimen of the species or type in question.
The noun "dog" , to cite one case, is expressed in the singular. On the other hand, "dogs" is the same noun but mentioned in the plural. If someone says they have "a dog" , they have the only animal of this species. The case is different for those who claim to have "dogs" : they may be two, three or more animals.
A peculiarity occurs with collective nouns: in the singular, they mention a group of diverse similar elements. A "pack" (singular) is a group of dogs, several "packs" (plural) are several groups of groups.
"Dog" is a noun expressed in the singular.
Uncountable nouns
Just as collective nouns cannot express the idea of a single specimen or individual of a class, uncountable nouns (such as water, oil, fear, air, pleasure, ink and wind) are incommensurable, they cannot be counted or implied. a specific amount. To do this, they must use other words, such as units .
Although sentences like "I have to buy some water" or "these are my only pleasures" are accepted in everyday speech, in reality it is an imprecise and overly concise way of communicating certain ideas ; In these particular cases, "a water" probably refers to "a bottle of water" , while "pleasures" are actually "activities" or "situations" that generate pleasure for the sender.
The singular and the "s"
In Spanish we associate the idea of plural with words ending in "s" , which is why we assume that the rest of the nouns are singular. Having defined the concepts of collective and uncountable nouns, it goes without saying that this rule is not very reliable.
On the other hand, getting so attached to the idea that the final "s" indicates the presence of a plural can be counterproductive when studying other languages , in which the rules are different. In English, for example, we have examples of words in which the singular and plural are written exactly the same, something that happens with "fish" and "sheep." There is also the case of the word "children" , which is the plural of "child" .
As if this difference were not shocking enough for Spanish speakers, there are some languages in which the noun cannot be classified according to number , since it does not include that idea in its meaning; Such is the case of Japanese, where context is always necessary to know how many objects or subjects we are talking about, or at least if it is one or several.