"In second" or "in seconds" when talking about time

Question

When talking about time as a unit, which one is correct, in second or in seconds?

For example:

How long does it take to complete the task in second?

or

How long does it take to complete the task in seconds?

I think this is general reference – FumbleFingers Mar 14 '12 at 17:56 — FumbleFingers, Mar 14 '12 at 17:56

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 14 '12 at 13:28

5

The correct form is in seconds:

Please specify the time in seconds (in minutes, in days, in years, etc).

edited Mar 14 '12 at 13:28

answered Mar 14 '12 at 13:23

I agree, however I think a more interesting question is whether or not to pluralise the units when stating a figure. i.e. 23 Metres or 23 Metre. – Urbycoz Mar 14 '12 at 13:34
@Urbycoz: The length of the cloth is 23 meters. Why would it be 23 meter? – Armen Ծիրունյան Mar 14 '12 at 13:36
@Armen. It would be a 23 meter race not a 23 meters race. – anthonyms Mar 14 '12 at 13:44
2

@artfullyContrived: Indeed, because in this case it acts like an adjective, not a noun. A 12 year old boy is playing in the street. The boy that's playing in the street is 12 yearS old. – Armen Ծիրունյան Mar 14 '12 at 13:45
@Armen. I agree that's what people tend to say in practice, but it's debatable. The argument is that scientifically "metre" is only there to denote the units. It should never be pluralised. You would always write 23m, never 23ms. – Urbycoz Mar 14 '12 at 14:11
@Urbycoz: I agree that you never write 23ms for 23 meters. But I also maintain that you never pronounce 23m as 23 meter. – Armen Ծիրունյան Mar 14 '12 at 14:14
@art there's a question for that. It's completely unrelated to the question at hand. Let's stay on-topic. Same goes for Urbycoz and others. If you have a different question, use the "Ask Question" link. Don't bury it in comments. – RegDwigнt Mar 14 '12 at 17:31

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 14 '12 at 13:35

Use the plural, "seconds".

In general, when you do not know whether the number of something is one or more than one, you use the plural.

Like, "How many people attended the meeting?", NOT "How many person attended the meeting?"

Even if the number is most likely one: "Polygamy is illegal here, but the number of wives Bob has is unknown." NOT "number of wife".

2 Answers2