grammatical number - Is 'hair' singular or plural?


When one says I was washing my hair, is it singular or plural? What is the singular for hair?



Answer



This seems to be one of those plural issues where a different plural is used when referring to the large uncountable group. "I found 3 gray hairs this morning" is proper but so is "I washed my hair this morning".


In the second case, your entire head covered with individuals hairs is treated as a single object or group which is why it is referred to in a singular form.


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