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Channel: In the sentence "She says she has no friends," the number of friends is zero, why is "friends" still plural? - English Language Learners Stack Exchange
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Answer by FumbleFingers for In the sentence "She says she has no friends," the number of friends is zero, why is "friends" still plural?

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It's just that the normal expectation is she would have several friends.

We use the singular in contexts like He has no wife, or I have no car. We tend to use "do-support" or "got-support" anyway (He doesn't have a wife, I haven't got a car), so such assertions don't always sound completely natural regardless of the plurality.

Note that I have no son is likely to be bitter exaggeration from a father "disowning" his only son, whereas I have no sons is more likely if someone is lamenting the fact that he has no sons, whereas he would like to have several.


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