Vocab issue

[TarnishedPenny]

I'm confused. Is it 'the myriad of cats' or is it 'the myriads of cats'?

I've always thought the word was singular in form, but a spellchecking programme insisted it should be plural. Online is not helpful.

 

[TheLobster]

Myriad is ten thousand; if you mean multiples of 10k, then it should be plural; otherwise it should stay singular.

It’s no different in this regard than “thousand” itself, or “million”.

 

[Rob_Royale]

The singular is what I'm familiar with, to be used to express a very great number.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think you are right.

"Myriad" is a synonym for "very large number."

Your use of "the" in front of "myriad" seems odd to me. The normal expression would be "A myriad of cats."

 

[TheLobster]

Your use of "the" in front of "myriad" seems odd to me. The normal expression would be "A myriad of cats."

I’d assume it’s contextual, and the particular multitude of cats has been referred to before. If not, then you’re right and it should be “a myriad.”

 

[BeechLeaf]

There are three common constructions:

myriad cats
a myriad cats
a myriad of cats

There is no principled way to decide one is better than another. They won't all sound equally good to you, but they're all in common use. It can, in part, be affected by the main noun: some might sound better than others with 'cats'.

 

[StillStunned]

How does anyone get enough cats together to describe them as "myriad"?

 

[NuclearFairy]

How does anyone get enough cats together to describe them as "myriad"?

Open a can and they will come.

 

[Bamagan]

Open a can and they will come.

I step outside and shake the plastic container with the treats for the strays.

 

[SimonDoom]

How does anyone get enough cats together to describe them as "myriad"?

That's what the mice are for.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Thanks to all!

It might be, Looking over the fence , I pondered the myriad of cats infesting the local Cat Lady's yard.

 

[Britva415]

They can both be right.

"Myriad" is more common, maybe even conventional, but "myriads" would be a 100% valid way to mean even more than "a myriad -" which already isn't a specific number even though it literally means 10,000. Think of the plural as an intensifier.

"Tens of thousands" is just as figurative as "ten thousand," but more.

I'll also say that, in English, I feel "myriad" doesn't convey an amount quite as firmly as "myriads" does. "The myriad" tends, in my opinion, to convey a diversity of different things, while "myriads" tends more to convey a lotta lot of the same thing.

 

[NotWise]

I rarely hear "myriad" used in the plural. It can be used either as an adjective (in which case it is never plural) or as a noun. As a noun it may be either plural or singular. In your case you seem to using it as a noun.

As a noun, if you're talking about a single large and/or diverse group then it is singular. If you're talking about multiple large and/or diverse groups then it is plural. This latter distinction is per Gemini.

Without more context, it sounds like you're talking about a single group (cats).

 

[TheLobster]

If you’re looking for alternative phrasing, I suggest:

 

[SimonDoom]

Thanks to all!

It might be, Looking over the fence , I pondered the myriad of cats infesting the local Cat Lady's yard.

My only objection to this is that it sounds like exaggeration. I can imagine maybe 12 cats in the Cat Lady's yard. A dozen. But I don't think of that as a myriad. In this particular context I don't think of "myriad" as the right word for what you want. Be careful about getting wedded to a word for a particular situation just because you like it.

 

[Bazzle]

How does anyone get enough cats together to describe them as "myriad"?

If it's that many cats, it will be a platoon.

 

[SimonDoom]

"Colony" could be an appropriate word. It's used in connection with a group of cats in one place, but without suggesting a particular number.

 

[Voboy]

Singular "myriad" FTW.

Fuck those spellcheckers. They're nothing but trouble.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

My only objection to this is that it sounds like exaggeration. I can imagine maybe 12 cats in the Cat Lady's yard. A dozen. But I don't think of that as a myriad. In this particular context I don't think of "myriad" as the right word for what you want. Be careful about getting wedded to a word for a particular situation just because you like it.

Of course it's an exaggeration, Simon, but if you've ever lived near one such dwelling, that's the impression one gets.

 

[SimonDoom]

Of course it's an exaggeration, Simon, but if you've ever lived near one such dwelling, that's the impression one gets.

These things come down to subjective judgments. I'm not a great fan of the word "myriad" except in limited situations. To me, it rarely seems like the right word for the occasion. I think of it as a word that's more likely to be appropriate in an abstract sense.

Example:

My daughter asked me if I had any objections to her marrying Willoughby. I replied that I had a myriad objections.

 

[Voboy]

These things come down to subjective judgments. I'm not a great fan of the word "myriad" except in limited situations. To me, it rarely seems like the right word for the occasion. I think of it as a word that's more likely to be appropriate in an abstract sense.

Example:

My daughter asked me if I had any objections to her marrying Willoughby. I replied that I had a myriad objections.

 

[liliput1]

Open a can and they will come.

Don't have any of them spayed and neutered and soon there will be more.

 

[liliput1]

I replied that I had a myriad objections.

Oh I don't like that version. It's scratchy.

 

[liliput1]

View attachment 2641659

Could it be, boss, that once again you are angry about something else and you're taking it out on me?

 

[BeechLeaf]

Earlier I made a bald assertion about three grammatical variations all being common. I should add my sources: in my job as a proof-reader I tested this on the British National Corpus and the Google Ngram Viewer, counting up numbers for each style, and doing tests to ensure I was picking them up correctly. I didn't have my document on this machine, but I've now found it on a backup, and there is a certain amount of preference

a myriad things > a myriad of things > myriad things

but they're all reasonably close in numbers. So all of them are in common use.