grammatical number - Why is it that score is used in singular when referring to several groups of 20?


If I'm not mistaken, score can mean "a group or set twenty".


What I don't understand is why you say for example "Four score and seven years ago...", instead of saying "four scores" (since there are four groups of twenty years).



Answer



The word score follows the same rule that applies for the words dozen, hundred, thousand and million. When they are used with a number to denote exact quantity, their form doesn't change, e.g. we say two hundred, ten thousand, three dozen, five million.


The plural form with these words is used when the number denoted isn't exact and we just want to emphasise the fact that there are many items, e.g. hundreds of years ago, dozens of times, etc.


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