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Well, here is the situation. I have four students. They did a test. Suppose that the regulation is a student getting a score below 40 gets the remark "study hard" which is written at the bottom of the work instead of a numerical score. When I want to confirm this, may I say:

They get study hard if their SCORE IS (instead of SCORES ARE) below 40, right?

Fadli Sheikh
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    Well. The verb is singular. And so the noun must be singular, too. "Scores is" is not English. – RegDwigнt Aug 19 '19 at 11:55
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    Google Books has plenty of matches for plural they raise their right hands** AS WELL AS singular they raise their right hand**. Both are fine. – FumbleFingers Aug 19 '19 at 12:04
  • @RegDwigнt of course. I mean scores are or score is? – Fadli Sheikh Aug 19 '19 at 12:20
  • @FumbleFingers thank you fumble fingers – Fadli Sheikh Aug 19 '19 at 13:57
  • You may find the linked article in the singular possessions of individual members of a plural group thread helpful. The other question is possibly a duplicate, though 'singular they/their' isn't mentioned. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 19 '19 at 14:27
  • @FumbleFingers okay. I will access the identical question. But, one more question. What does actually Brad say in his post? I do not get it at all. It seems he totally misunderstood it. – Fadli Sheikh Aug 19 '19 at 15:06
  • @FadliSheikh: I think the reason everyone's downvoting Brad's answer here is because it seems to be entirely concerned with the irrelevant matter of your "use / mention orthography". He's telling you that in a "mention" context, you should enclose the relevant text ("study hard") in quote marks. But it's poorly expressed, and completely ignores the fact that in this modern age it's just as easy - and perhaps more legible - to switch to an italic or similarly distinctive font (study hard). What Brad says is "true", but it's not an answer to your question. – FumbleFingers Aug 19 '19 at 15:16
  • I think the edit actually improved the question, you said that your confusion is whether the verb should be singular or plural. This is very very clear in the question. But in a comment you said By the way, maybe the source of your misunderstanding (or confusion) was the edited part. Someone has edited it into that terrible sentence. I do not know who What is this terrible sentence? – Mari-Lou A Aug 20 '19 at 06:33
  • The question has been edited by two different users, this was the original question It is different, but in a comment to RegDwight you said I mean scores are or score is, well it's in the edited version, and in bold too. As to who edited, you can see the names of the editors in the stamp history. You are of course free to edit your own question or even rollback the entire post to its original state. The edits, by highly competent and educated native speakers, were made in good faith and in order to clarify your question. – Mari-Lou A Aug 20 '19 at 06:42
  • 'Scores below 40 earn a study hard comment.' – Nigel J Aug 20 '19 at 06:45
  • @Mari-LouA the term "remark" didn't have to be changed into "comment", and the editor should just have added the "are" after "scores", which I forgot to put in. I just straightened what RedDwight thought by implying that I had just forgotten to put in "are" after "scores", so it should not have been commented on. The editor changed the essence of my question, that's where my objection lies. – Fadli Sheikh Aug 20 '19 at 09:13
  • If you feel that the edit harmed your question you can roll it back to the original and edit it from there. Changing "remark" to "comment" is superficial and did not affect the question in the slightest. The original, and much shorter, question asked about "score" vs "scores" or didn't it? You are the author, you can reject these edits, no one is forcing you to accept them. If you're not happy, remove the edits that changed the essence. – Mari-Lou A Aug 20 '19 at 11:12
  • @NigelJ I'd post that as an answer, expanded, if I were you. – Mari-Lou A Aug 20 '19 at 11:18
  • The edits have been rolled back. The author can fix their post as they think best. No one's answer is affected adversely by the rollback. – Mari-Lou A Aug 20 '19 at 11:59
  • The OP can edit here, if they want. – Mari-Lou A Aug 20 '19 at 12:06
  • @Mari-LouA it's already enough, Mary-Lou. Unlimited thanks for all your suggestion. I have got the answer and I do not think the question needs editing other than the "are" case. So, I will just add "are" after "scores". – Fadli Sheikh Aug 20 '19 at 12:10

3 Answers3

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Note that ‘score’ is originally from incising a mark - literally scoring a mark in the side of a tree, in order to count. One score is one mark. Multiple scores are multiple marks.

A ‘score’ is thus a singular item – for example, the total that a student gets in response to one test.

Scores–the plural–is a collection of results, either within one test, or the totals of multiple tests. Multiple ‘marks on the tree’.

  • If there is one number, or result, ie 80 - use score
  • For multiple numbers, or results, ie 10, 30, 80 - use scores.

Example:

  • I scored 17 in my test (singular) I had 1 score
  • My scores for the 3 tests were 18, 15, and 3 (plural) I had multiple scores.

On top of that, you have ‘the student’ or ‘students’ - ie, whether ‘students’ is singular or plural. I think that is what is confusing you.

Start with scores - is it plural or singular - and then look at student or students - to sort that out.

If ‘score’ is singular - i.e. it’s just one number, then use:

They get the comment ‘study hard’ if their score is below 40

If ‘scores’ is plural - i.e. each student gets multiple numbers as a result, then use:

They get the comment ‘study hard’ if their scores are below 40

If you need to or want to differentiate:

If ‘scores’ are varied i.e. they have several numbers, and any one of said scores falling beneath 40 causes the ‘study hard; message then use:

They get the comment ‘study hard’ if any one of their scores are below 40

‘scores’ refers to ‘all their scores’ here, so it is plural.

If ‘scores’ are varied i.e. they have several and the amalgam of said scores dropping beneath 40 causes the ‘study hard’ message then use:

They get the comment ‘study hard’ if their amalgamated score is below 40

note: there is one score i.e. 1 number. So ‘score’ is singular here.

Etymology and Meaning

Score from Old Norse skora ‘make an incision’ and skor ‘notch’. Interestingly, skora also means 20 in old Norse which is why we call 20 ‘a score’. As in ‘3 score years and 10’.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/score

Mari-Lou A
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Jelila
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I am answering the OP's edited note : 'how to figure out the correct grammatical number to use'.

I suggest :

Scores below 40 earn a "study hard" comment.

The number (or even gender) of the students is actually irrelevant to the necessary grammar. There is no need for the possessive pronoun - or any pronouns at all.

And it fits for a single student, also.

The statement is about a logical connection between scores and commenting.

(I only answered this 'cos @Mari-Lou A made me do it.)

Nigel J
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    The original question, amended, was “They get study hard if their score (instead of scores) is below 40. Right?" Your solution resolves nicely the issue of their + score/s – Mari-Lou A Aug 20 '19 at 11:37
  • marked you down because you did not want to answer the question and It is also just what has already been answered just in a different package. – Brad Aug 20 '19 at 13:38
  • @Brad Thank you. – Nigel J Aug 20 '19 at 13:43
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They get study hard if their SCORE (instead of SCORES) is below 40, right?

After reading this I would say to you, study hard

Take a step back; how would you describe giving a numerical mark? You state in your opening article I would give him a score of 40.

For a numerical mark your description is score of 40

Therefore for "The Comment" your description should be the remark "study hard"

When you want to confirm this, you should say: They get "the remark" study hard if their score is below 40

Brad
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    I am afraid you have got it wrong, dude. First of all, I did not say "numerical mark". I said "numerical score". This term is broadly used by the native. And what I said was I wanted to confirm whether a student getting a score below 40 should get the remark "study hard" instead of the score (since such a score is considered too low to write on the worksheet) – Fadli Sheikh Aug 19 '19 at 14:29
  • By the way, maybe the source of your misunderstanding (or confusion) was the edited part. Someone has edited it into that terrible sentence. I do not know who. – Fadli Sheikh Aug 19 '19 at 14:37
  • @Fadli Sheikh If you read my text I said "For a numerical mark your description is score of 40" I used score as "your word" the same as you did. I used numerical mark to describe your use of score. My answer thus being; Therefore if you use score to describe the number you should use remark to describe the text. As for Editing I have no idea what it looked like previously but I share you frustration with the Editor's I think some are trying to be helpful, most are trying to gain a badge and some ? but unfortunately it sometimes removes the pivotal point of what you are trying to portray. – Brad Aug 20 '19 at 06:13
  • yeah. Some editors just make questions ununderstandable. – Fadli Sheikh Aug 20 '19 at 06:23
  • @Mari-Lou A. The issues of scores vs score had already been answered and edit when I answered the question. Please note my Heading "They get study hard if their SCORE (instead of SCORES) is below 40, right?" .............I went on to answer this question, which was posted..........When I want to confirm this, should I say:

    "They get the comment ‘study hard’ if their score (instead of scores) is below 40".

     – Brad Aug 20 '19 at 08:06
  • @Mari-Lou A .As quoted above for what I answered is not true ....... I did not answer that question that is an edit what I answered was the original.............When I want to confirm this, should I say: They get study hard if their SCORE (instead of SCORES) is below 40, right? "the comment" HAS BEEN ADDED BECAUSE OF MY ANSWER. Therefore I stand by both my answer and the statements on Editing which you have so nicely given us an example of. – Brad Aug 20 '19 at 08:23
  • @Mari-LouA well, the edit changed the essence of my question. That's where my objection lies. The point of the question is whether or not using "score" as a singular noun wrong there? It's actually that simple. First, RedDwight, to my surprise, commented on the "are" that should be there, after "scores". I forgot to put it in, yes, but it is not what I am asking. But, it's okay since it was worth correcting. My bad. But, when I was about to correct it, I found this massive edit that had changed the point of the question. Fali Sheikh. I've rolled back the edits, it's clear they upset you. – Mari-Lou A Aug 20 '19 at 12:02