grammatical number - News - Singular or Plural





“The news is good.” Why?



Does one ask "What are the news" or "What is the news"? Or are both correct in different situations?



Answer



It's very strange: every etymology I find for news shows it originating as a plural:



from Middle English newes, plural of newe new ( adj ) on model of Old French noveles or Medieval Latin nova new things



and yet it certainly isn't used as one now.


You can't have a new; the singular would be a news item, a piece of news, a story, a scoop...


You can refer to the new as an abstract, but that's a synonym for "that which is new":



...and this he apprehended would be particularly felt whenever the time arrived for exchanging the old for the new.
The Parliamentary debates from the year 1803 to the present time, Volume 34



And of course you can begin anew, but that simply means "start again".


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