On 05/11/19 13:15, Coly Li wrote: > On 2019/11/5 9:00 下午, Wols Lists wrote: >> On 05/11/19 12:44, Coly Li wrote: >>>>> are devices number before and after the grow operation, "* 2" comes >>>>> >>>>> device numbers >>> Copied. I am not sure whether it should be "device numbers" or maybe >>> "devices numbers", this confuses me *^_^* >>> >> It is "device numbers". >> >> The trick for English is to ask yourself what is the singular form. Here >> it is "device number". Then convert that to plural by adding an "s" at >> the end. >> > > Let me explain why I am confused. > > Because the raid0 device can be combined by many disks, there will be > multiple component devices, so I think the number should be "component > disks number". Then I mentioned old and new numbers, there are two > numbers, so I am not sure whether I should use "devices numbers", > because devices means multiple component devices, and numbers means > there are two numbers (one for old, one for new). > >> English never "doubles up" as far as I'm aware (and I bet someone comes >> up with an obscure example where it does :-) >> > > By the above explanation, is it still "device numbers" ? > Yup I think it is :-) It gets complicated ... :-) But I presume you mean a device can have two different numbers, one from before the change and one after. In which case it is "device numbers". "devices numbers" is grammatically wrong full stop, but you could have a possessive device(s), as in "device's numbers" (singular device) or "devices' numbers" (several devices). English is a tricky language, not because it has that many or complicated rules (it doesn't), but because it's stolen so many words and rules from other languages that you're forever tripping up on something that doesn't follow the usual rules ... :-) Cheers, Wol
