stone...The lack of an "s" on the plural of "stone" really sounds like a Britishism.BTW, 1 stone = 14 pounds = 6.35 Kg = a bit under 32,000 caratsThere's a unit called a mite, which weights 0.05 grain.> "collective singular"Would you say "500 Torr" or "500 Torrs"? The former sounds better to me. 1 dozen, two dozen, 10 dozen, dozens and dozens. Wire gauge is also a bit weird (A.W.G. in the U.S.).1 horsepower, 288 horsepower. I think there's another common one, but I can't think of it now.> it's possible to say "the fish weighed six pound"I've never heard that turn of phrase in American English.> "lux" and "Siemens", which have a sibilant ending already"Luxes" and "Siemenses" just doesn't sound good. Same for "gausses". If your last name is Stevens, one would probably use "Stevens" to discuss two members of your family. But there's the "Stevens' " / "Stevens's" conundrum. I tend to use the apostrophe alone, becuase it looks nice. My last name ends in an "s", but it's easier to prounce in the posessive form, since the "s" is preceded by a vowel...like a Greek name. I always use the "...s' " posessive form for my own name.
-
(The most common sentence) - Is this normal?
-
There were invented a whole series of tiny units of weight, based on alternating 12s and 20s, that started with 12 ounces to the pound (Troy and apothecaries' and also Tower, which was the original pound of silver the British pound was based on), then 20 pennyweight to the ounce (cf 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound), then 12 grains to the pennyweight, and so on.Well done thinking of "torr" and "horsepower" - I've never seen "torrs" (but when "horsepower" is abbreviated to "horse" it commonly takes the plural). Another is "hundredweight" - always in the singular in British/Australian English at least. [And pennyweight, I've just observed.] Collective numbers are always used in the singular with other numbers: two dozen, three score, four hundred, five gross, six thousand, seven million; and with phrases like "a few".In British-based English the s is even more likely to be dropped in "the fish weighed six pound three ounces"; and in money more than in weight: "it cost four pound" - or, in the old Australian vernacular, "it cost four quid" - "quid" was hardly ever made plural. In "four pound two and six" (= four pounds, two shillings and sixpence), saying "pounds" would have sounded a little pedantic.Of course units are always in the singular when used attributively before a noun: "a three-mile race", but "a race of three miles".I like the apostrophe alone for words ending in a sibilant too. General usage is mixed, which I think means you can indulge your own taste.