But Professor, everything is open to change. We all know that "die" is
correct but it is suggested now by Oxford and Grammarly that "dice" can
equally be plural and singular form of the famous 6-sided and 6-numbered
cube.
On Tue, 20 Aug 2019, 15:02 Martin Bland, <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I am one native English speaker who would use "die" in everyday speech, but
> I am quite old! Pedantic, perhaps, but "pedantic" is what somebody who is
> wrong calls somebody who is right.
>
> Martin
>
> On Tue, 20 Aug 2019 at 14:48, Wilson, Paul <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> > I have to admit that Allan has touched on one of my hobby-horses. I
> > believe that in the modern era "die" as the singular of dice is obsolete,
> > or at best archaic. I know of no native English speaker that would refer
> to
> > "a die" in everyday speech. If you were to stop someone in the street and
> > ask them what "a die" is, they would either refer to "dye" for
> > hair/clothes, or to something for moulding metal.
> >
> > A quick bit of googling just now brought me to
> > grammarly.com/blog/dice-die/ where it states
> >
> > "If you look up dice in the Oxford Dictionary, you will learn that dice
> is
> > an acceptable singular and plural form of die. According to this source,
> > dice was once the plural of die, “but in modern standard English dice is
> > both the singular and the plural: ‘throw the dice’ could mean a reference
> > to either one or more than one dice.”
> >
> > Something I do remember reading in the print version of the Oxford
> English
> > Dictionary many years back. So my opinion is to applaud the exam setter
> who
> > had the nerve to jettison an anachronism and say "a dice", like everyone
> > does, but I am sure that others will differ.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Paul
> >
> >
> >
> > Dr. Paul Wilson
> > Senior Lecturer in Statistics
> > School of Mathematics and Computer Science
> > Faculty of Science and Engineering
> > University of Wolverhampton
> > Wulfruna Street
> > Wolverhampton
> > WV1 1LY
> >
> > Phone: +44 (0)1902 321444
> >
> >
> > ________________________________________
> > From: A UK-based worldwide e-mail broadcast system mailing list [
> > [log in to unmask]] on behalf of Allan Reese [
> > [log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: 20 August 2019 14:29
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: allstat Digest - 19 Aug : UK school exams
> >
> > As John Bibby notes, the 2019 paper is embargoed except for teachers for
> > a year. To continue the SHOCK, HORROR, I looked at an earlier
> > Maths/Stats paper in which a question stated someone threw "a dice".
> >
> > Allan
> >
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>
> --
> ***************************************************
> J. Martin Bland
> Prof. of Health Statistics Emeritus
> Dept. of Health Sciences
> Seebohm Rowntree Building
> University of York
> Heslington
> York YO10 5DD
>
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