mediation
English translation: mediations
| 14:26 Apr 10, 2016 |
| English language (monolingual) [PRO] Law/Patents - Law (general) / What is the plural of mediation | |||||||
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|  Selected response from: Jack Doughty United Kingdom Local time: 01:28 | ||||||
Grading comment
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| SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED | ||||
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| 4 +1 | use the singular |
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| 4 | mediations |
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| Discussion entries: 4 | |
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Answers
12 mins confidence: 
mediations Explanation: It's rare, but there are examples of it, e.e. in the following passage from "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm", an American children's classic by Kate Douglas Wiggin (filmed starring Shirley Temple): Rebecca took her scolding (which she richly deserved) like a soldier. There was considerable of it, and Miss Miranda remarked, among other things, that so absent-minded a child was sure to grow up into a driveling idiot. She was bidden to stay away from Alice Robinson's birthday party, and doomed to wear her dress, stained and streaked as it was, until it was worn out. Aunt Jane six months later mitigated this martyrdom by making her a ruffled dimity pinafore, artfully shaped to conceal all the spots. She was blessedly ready with these ***mediations*** between the poor little sinner and the full consequences of her sin. |
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47 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
peer agreement (net): +1use the singular Explanation: "Mediations", plural, does exist, though it's fairly unusual, and the kind of mediation you're talking about is rarely if ever pluralised. The plural form is mainly found with other senses of "mediation", particularly in cultural studies. In the context you're proposing, mediating between people or parties, I think it would be unnatural, and I would say that the service you offer is "mediation", singular. It's a bit like "behaviour", for example; "behaviours" is used in some specialised fields, but normally it's singular, and if you want to convey the plural sense you say something like "forms of behaviour". So here you could say you offer mediation sessions, or mediation services, or something like that, but in practice the plural doesn't add anything important, and you would just say "mediation". -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2016-04-10 16:05:10 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- I mean that although "mediation sessions" is perfectly idiomatic, someone offering this service will not usually say that they offer "mediation sessions"; they will say they offer mediation or mediation services, and it will be taken for granted that if necessary this will involve more than one session. |
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