Grammatical number
= Grammatical number
<Grammatical number> is a grammatical category expressing count-related distinctions, commonly singular and plural, through word forms or <grammatical agreement>. It is a feature of a linguistic expression, not simply the numerical size of the thing being described. Its categories do not always correspond directly to the count of real-world referents.<Number in the SIL Glossary of Linguistic Terms>[Definition and English plural example]{ref}
The contrast `boat/boats` marks singular versus plural on a <noun>. Yet `These scissors are blunt` can describe one tool while using plural forms and plural <grammatical agreement>. Conversely, `a committee` can denote several people through a singular <noun>. An annotation should therefore record the grammatical feature separately from an investigator's count of objects. Some <languages> distinguish a dual category for exactly two, showing that the inventory of number categories is itself an empirical question.<Essentials of Linguistics (2nd edition) by Catherine Anderson and others>[§5.7, Number, singular/plural and dual distinctions]{ref}