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間違いやすい用語や表現 -複数形の誤用

英語には、通常単数形でしか用いられない名詞がたくさんあります。それらの名詞は、通常の用法で不可算物あるいは一つの可算物とみなされるものを意味するわけです。英語を母語としない人がこのような名詞を誤って複数形で用いているのをしばしば見かけます。


以下はこのような誤りの典型例です。
[誤] (1) These data analysis studies have added many knowledges to our understanding of neuronal firing patterns.
[正] (1’) These data analysis studies have added much knowledge to our understanding of neuronal firing patterns.
[誤] (2) In the final section, we give concluding discussions.
[正] (2’) In the final section, we give concluding discussion.
[誤] (3) We report previously unobserved behaviors in the metallic superconductor Sr2RuO4.
[正] (3’) We report previously unobserved behavior in the metallic superconductor Sr2RuO4.
[正] (3’’) We report previously unobserved types of behavior in the metallic superconductor Sr2RuO4.
[誤] (4) We first introduce some notations.
[正] (4’) We first introduce some notation.
[誤] (5) There have been great progresses in the field of machine learning in recent years.
[正] (5’) There has been great progress in the field of machine learning in recent years.
[誤] (6) Here we study the time evolutions of protein corona formations.
[正] (6’) Here we study the dynamics of protein corona formation.
[誤] (7) Study of the present model provides many new informations.
[正] (7’) Study of the present model provides much new information.
[誤] (8) There are many researches on the causes and effects of climate change.
[正] (8’) There is a great deal of research on the causes and effects of climate change.
[正] (8’’) There is a great body of research on the causes and effects of climate change
[正] (8’’’) There are many studies on the causes and effects of climate change.
[誤] (9) We next study how the efficiency of the decision-making process can be increased by the introduction of random noises.
[正] (9’) We next study how the efficiency of the decision-making process can be increased by the introduction of random noise.
[誤] (10) There is a lack of evidences for the existence of gravitons.
[正] (10’) There is a lack of evidence for the existence of gravitons.
[誤] (11) The author is grateful to M. Stevens for her advices on the various methods of sample preparation.
[正] (11’) The author is grateful to M. Stevens for her advice on the various methods of sample preparation.
[誤] (12) There are few agreements among these sets of results.
[正] (12’) There is little agreement among these sets of results.
[誤] (13) The various energies in this system can be understood as follows.
[正] (13’) The various forms of energy in this system can be understood as follows.
[誤] (14) Such uncontrolled motions of the detector and the source can result in significant error in the measurement of the scattering angle.
[正] (14’) Such uncontrolled motion of the detector and the source can result in significant error in the measurement of the scattering angle.

関連した議論についてはグレン・パケット:『科学論文の英語用法百科〈第2編〉冠詞用法』(京都大学学術出版会,2016)をご参照下さい。

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