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Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 08:33:03 +1100
From: cguttman <4everclever4@web.de>
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Subject: Re: plural of "performance"
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> If one refers to an athlete's specific performance of individual
> activities, wouldn't it be ok to use performances?
as in say "athletic performances".
>
> For example,
>
> "The 50m and 100m performances of mainland girls in the Asian Games two
> years ago had prompted ..."
>
> You would probably not say:
>
> "The 50m and 100m performance of mainland girls in the Asian Games two
> years ago had prompted ..."
>
> Chris
>
> Miss Elaine Eos wrote:
>
>> In article <440ffc33$0$25198$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au>,
>> cguttman <4everclever4@web.de> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>> We can measure an athlete's performance.
>>>>
>>>> We can also measure the performance of MANY athletes.
>>
>>
>>
>>> If we measure the performance for running and swimming of the same
>>> athlete, can I say that measured two performances?
>>
>>
>>
>> No. We can say we measured that athlete's performance in two areas.
>> See "homonym":
>>
>>
>>>> <http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=homonym>
>>
>>
>>
>> An athlete's performance is just one thing, even though it can be
>> measured under many circumstances. It's like his height: we can
>> measure his height while running, or while swimming, but we've still
>> only measured the athlete's one and only height, not his heights.
>> There is only one height or performance.
>>
>> With a bardic performance, the performance itself is a thing, apart
>> from the performers. For this reason, there can be two or more of
>> them, and there can be "performances."
>>
>> Interestingly, even with multiple things having performance being
>> measured (as opposed to giving a performance), there's still just the
>> one.
>>
>> "My new car really performs well on the highway. Of course, my old
>> car performed well, too. They both have great performance; I enjoy
>> driving both of them."
>>
>> But also...
>>
>> "That was some performance you gave in the meeting, this morning.
>> While not quite as entertaining as the one last week, they were both
>> great performances."
>>
>> Performance as a measure is singular. Performance as a display can be
>> plural.
>>
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