Masterly Piers, quite masterly! ;-) However, I suspect that AndrewF
was taking the pi .., I mean mickey .... ;-)
Chris
On 24 Nov 2004, at 11:51, Piers Hemy wrote:
>
> OK, I'll bite.
>
> You are both at least partially correct, but you are talking about
> different
> animals.
>
> In the phrase "fifty cents" 'cents' is a plural noun, just as
> 'dollars' in
> "worth fifty dollars".
>
> In the phrase "fifty cent stamp" 'fifty cent' is adjectival,
> describing the
> stamp, just as 'fifty dollar' dscribes the bill in "fifty dollar bill".
>
> As to whether the plural of 'penny' is 'pennies' or 'pence' - I think
> it is
> a question of context. A defined number of them would require 'pence',
> whereas an indeterminate amount, or a context in which you emphasise
> that
> there aren't many of them, or emphasise the coins themselves rather
> than
> their worth, would require 'pennies'. "I had thirty five pence to
> spend"
> compared to "I had barely two pennies to rub together"
>
> But cent as the plural of cent? Not over here! But then, we don't
> have any
> cents over here.
>
> HTH!
>
> --
> Piers
<|_:-)_|>
C M I Barker
Cambridgeshire, Great Britain.
+44 (0)7092 251126
http://www.threeshoes.co.uk
http://homepage.mac.com/zuiko
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