From what I read online "news" is treated as a singular noun; however, in this sentence I feel that something is wrong but I am not quite sure:
1.) I've got an interesting news to share with you.
Or should it be:
2.) I've got some interesting news to share with you.
Example 1) is simply wrong, in British English at least and I think AmE too.
Example 2) is correct, but it's neither "a singular noun", nor "plural", nor "idiomatic".
"news" is an uncountable/mass noun, like butter, water, salt etc. So, it's never used with "a" (except if modified with a singular noun, eg "a news story / source / provider" etc; like "a butter dish", "a water jug" etc). I remember many foreign students of English making that mistake in my teaching days, largely because of it being a countable noun in their languages.
Like other uncountable/mass nouns, we can use "some/any/no + news", and also "a piece/bit etc of news".
"The news" can refer to news programmes / reports generally, eg "Have you seen the news today?" (ie any tv / press etc presentation of current events)
And "the news" can also refer to a particular key news story that is reported in the media, or any personally important new occurrence: "Have you heard the news? The prime minister lied about Grenfell! / Suzie's going to have a baby!"
News is the aggregate of all the reports of the day; therefore it's uncountable, singular.
Merriam-Webster (online) describes the word as “noun plural but singular in construction.” So it takes verbs in singular form: Is there any news?
Politics? Nov 5, 2012
Singular or plural? |
In the singular, I would offer to share "a piece of" news, a news "story," news "piece," a "bit of" news, or perhaps even a news "bite."
