Correction of title: "progeny"
This discussion follows this Italki question.
https://www.italki.com/question/394527
What kind of noun is "progeny" and does usage vary between the UK and the US?
The questioner is using a Cambridge dictionary which says that it is an uncountable noun in US English but a plural countable noun in UK English. My answer was:
"Progeny" is a very unusual noun in terms of its categorisation.
It's not an uncountable noun but most often a countable plural noun. See: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/progeny
Although it is used mostly to refer to more than one child, if a person or animal has only one child, then progeny can still be used to refer to that single child.
So in practice, "progeny" means all the members of the set of children of a particular parent or parents, even if there is only one member of the set."
I suspect usage does not vary between the UK and US (or elsewhere) but that categorisation does vary between dictionaries because it is an unusual word. Any thoughts? Thanks.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/progeny
KP, There are some variations between US and UK English on the issue you mention but "progeny" is probably not one of those variations. Obviously, this topic is not exciting enough to generate discussion! It's probably one of those issues that people think are too abstruse to be worth spending time on.
Each set of parents has their own progeny, which usually refers to more than one child. But progeny cannot be synonymous with "child". e.g. "My progeny consists of 7 children". Two sets of parents have progenies (but I never see people use the plural in practice). It may be better to define it as a group noun.
Two sets of parents have progenies (but I never see people use the plural in practice). It may be better to define it as a group noun.
(countable plural) - "plurale tantum" noun, which can be combined with 'are'? 'Many' is fine, 'much' is not?
Versus:
(uncountable) - 'singulare tantum' noun used with 'is' but hardly ever used with 'a'? "Much" is preferred to 'many'?
Are there other 'tests' which help to distignush one thing form the other?
As I remember, with respect to "are" vs. "is" British and American English(es) are different in the way their treat groups of poeple in general. E.g. musical collectives. And sorry for ending each line but the last two with a question mark:)
