# Do you use plural with decimal quantifier?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-plural-with-decimal-quantifier/570912>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 10, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-plural-with-decimal-quantifier/570912 "2011-02-10T17:07:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-plural-with-decimal-quantifier/570912/21 "2011-02-11T17:16:40Z")

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> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> We obviously talk to different people.

Well, as said above, you are halfway across the world.

I’m genuinely curious whether/where this form is idiomatic in English speaking pockets of the world. I don’t recall that being standard usage in the major non-US varieties of English, but it’s not like I’ve ever done a formal survey, either.

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**Author:** ![Joey\_Tightlips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@Joey\_Tightlips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_Tightlips)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-plural-with-decimal-quantifier/570912/22 "2011-02-11T19:11:48Z")

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If anyone said “point five liter of…” to me, I’d laugh out loud. It sounds ridiculous to me, but I’m open to the idea that other areas have different conventions. Honest question for the non-plural fans out there: What would you say if it was zero (or negative)? “I have zero liter of…”? “There was an average change of -10 pound…”? It sounds even more absurd, but it’s not “enough” to be considered more than one, so it should still be singular?

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**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-use-plural-with-decimal-quantifier/570912/23 "2011-02-11T22:39:14Z")

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> [@Mornac](#):
>
> –In fact if you are talking about 1.5 liter(s) you still have the problem since you have less than the minimum amount of liters (two) to qualify for pluralness.

Where did you get the plural requires a minimum of two rule from?

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