Codex @codex  0

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.^[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.^[ref]