A Dictionary of Cont..

means. When this word means something that enables
one to accomplish his purpose, it can be
used as a true singular or as a true plural. We
may say evev means has been tried, all means
have been tried, one means is still open to us,
several means are still open to us.
When the word means wealth, it is always followed
by a plural verb, as in his means have increased,
never his means has increased. But it is
here a mass word and not a true plural. We can
speak of great means or of no great means, but
not of many means or few means. When the
word is not followed by a verb, it may be treated
as a singular and we may speak of much means
or little means.
The singular form mean is now used only for
something that is in the middle, such as a geometric
mean, and in this sense the word has a
regular plural means, as in insert three geometric
means.
meant. See mean.
mean time; meantime. Mean time, more properly
called mean solar time, is time measured by
the hour angle of the mean sun. The mean sun
is an imaginary and fictitious sun moving uniformly
in the celestial equator and taking the
same time to make its annual circuit as the true
sun does in the ecliptic (If a navigator does not
have the mean time, he cannot determine his
position by means of his sextant).
Spelled as one word and used as a noun,
meantime means the intervening time (There
must have been little meantime between the
lighting of the fuse and the explosion). Such
usage is exceedingly rare and would seem forced
and affected. The most common use of the single
word is in an adverbial phrase meaning “in the
intervening time, during the interval” (In the
meantime, in between time,/ Ain’t we got fun?).
meanwhile is a noun. It may be used in a prepositional
phrase, as in it had grown dark in the
meanwhile, or alone as an adverb, as in it had
grown dark meanwhile. Both constructions are
standard Enzlish. In Great Britain this word is
often writteias two, that is, as mean while, but
in the United States the solid compound is preferred.
measles. This word has a plural form and may
be treated as a plural, as in measles are contagious
and he caught them from me. But it is
more often treated as a singular, as in measles
is contagious, and he caught it from me. Both
constructions are acceptable. The singular form
measle is not used in connection with this disease
and an individual spot is called a pustule.
The plural form measles is used as the first
element in a compound when referring to the
disease that occurs in human beings, as in a
measles epidemic. The singular form measle may
be used in speaking of certain other diseases that
occur in animals, as in a measle epidemic.
measures
DISTANCE
The names for units of distance, such as inch,
foot, fathom, mile, are nouns. When used without
a numeral before another noun these words
have a genitive form, as in a mile’s walk, a foot’s
295 measures
depth. When used with a numeral before another
noun, the measure term is treated as the
first element in a compound and the simple
form of the word, that is, the singular form, is
used, as in u three-mile walk, a five-foot pole.
This is true even when an adjective stands between
the measure term and the noun, as in a
three-mile-long walk and a five-foot-high wall.
But when the measure term is not followed by
a noun, the plural form should be used in speaking
of more than one, as in a walk, three miles
long and a wall, five feet high.
At one time, these measure terms always had
the singular form when used with a numeral,
regardless of whether or not they qualified a following
noun. This was standard English for
measures cf distance as late as the eighteenth
century and Defoe wrote, ten mile out of London.
The construction is not standard now, except
for foot and fathom. Fathom is still used
in this way in Great Britain but is rarely heard
in the United States. Foot is still used in this way
in the United States, as in he is five foot ten. But
feet is also heard here. Both forms are acceptable.
The use of the plural form before a following
noun, as in a three-miles walk, a five-feet wall, is
not literary English. But it is heard too often in
the United States not to be called standard here.
Measurements are often given in a form such
as it was three feet long by two feet wide. Here
the preposition by has an adjective, wide, for its
object. This is curious, grammatically, but it is
the standard way of expressing measures of this
kind. In he stood at two yards distant and the
wall had risen to ten feet high, we again have a
preposition, at or to, with an adjective, distant
or high, as its object. These constructions, but
not the construction involving by, are condemned
by some grammarians. So far as theoretical
grammar goes, there is no difference
between the first sentence and the last two, and
no one should feel obliged to avoid these constructions
if they seem natural to him.
TIME
The names of units of time, such as hour,
week, month, year, are also nouns. When used
without a numeral before another noun, they
too have a genitive form, as in an hour’s walk,
a year’s delay. When they are used with a numeral
before another noun, no s is required. A
half-hour walk, a two-hour walk, is literary
English. But, unlike the units of distance, units
of time frequently have a final s when standing
in this position. If the numeral is one, or less
than one, the s is considered a genitive singular
and the expression is written a one-hour’s walk,
a half-hour’s walk. When the numeral is larger
than one, there is no agreement as to whether
the s represents a genitive singular, a genitive
plural, or a simple plural, and the words may be
written in any of these ways, as in a two-hour’s
walk, a two-hours’ walk, a two-hours walk. All
three forms are used by reputable publishers but
the last, without the apostrophe, is generally
preferred.
An adjective may stand between the time