Plural form of 'equipment' ?

Subject: Plural form of 'equipment' ?
From: Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>
To: Gérald Bourguignon <GBourguignon -at- tso3 -dot- com>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 12:22:42 -0400

Gérald Bourguignon wondered: <<I am writing, or rather translating from the original French version, a document that talks about measuring, inspection and test equipment. Can I write, for example, 'several equipments' or do I need to write 'several pieces of equipment' ? I had written the latter because 'equipments' sounded odd to me, but now I'm wondering if one can use a plural form of 'equipment' in English by simply adding an 's', as can be done in French.>>

No, in English we say "pieces of equipment", as you chose in your first translation. I can spot translations by an unskilled translator from a mile off by the fact that they retain the French plural in this kind of phrase. Don't get me started... I have a long rant about the quality of English translation in Quebec by soi-disant (disante? disants? <g>) traducteurs and traductrices. <g> Clearly you're better than that!

If the context is obviously plural, you can often simplify this and say only "the equipment", which is verbal shorthand for "all the equipment", but sometimes it's better to be specific and say "the five machines" or whatever is necessary to make the meaning clear.

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Geoff Hart ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)
www.geoff-hart.com
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References:
plural form of 'equipment' ?: From: Gérald Bourguignon

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