On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 08:29:05 +1100, cguttman
<4everclever4@web.de> wrote:
> Isn't the plural use of performance related to whether it is countable
> or not?
Sort of, but trying to derive it as a rule like that it likely to lead
to incorrect use.
> One can refer to the overall performance of an athlete.
Correct.
> If one refers to an athlete's specific performance of individual
> activities, wouldn't it be ok to use performances?
No. If one were referring to a gymnastic event then one might say "the
girl gave two performances of her skills", but that would be referring
to the occasions not to how well she performed. When referring to her
scores one would use the singular form, "her performance in the events
this year was better than last year".
> For example,
>
> "The 50m and 100m performances of mainland girls in the Asian Games two
> years ago had prompted ..."
No. That sounds as though they were doing dramatic or musical events as
entertainment.
> You would probably not say:
>
> "The 50m and 100m performance of mainland girls in the Asian Games two
> years ago had prompted ..."
Yes, we would in English. Although it would be better expressed as:
"The performance of mainland girls in the 50m and 100m categories in
the Asian Games two years ago had prompted ..."
In English the term 'performances' almost always refers to dramatic or
musical events, things which are events in themselves and normally
intended as entertainment, and not measurements.
It is best to regard them as distinct words which happen to have the
same spelling and pronunciation.
Chris C
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