Singular vs. Plural Nouns

[English Maiden]

Hi, Joe!

I'm a new member of your Forum, and I'm hoping you can help me with my confusion about the English language.

Can you tell me what the differences, if any, between these sentences are:
A1. We are the masters of our own DESTINY.
A2. We are the masters of our own DESTINIES.

B1. People with diabetes can still have A NORMAL SEX LIFE.
B2. People with diabetes can still have NORMAL SEX LIVES.

Is there a difference in meaning between the sentences in each set? Or are the sentences completely the same? My confusion lies in what form of noun to use: the plural or the singular. I personally think that the plural forms of the nouns in sentences A1 and B1 are the correct ones to use. What do you think? I'll look forward to your answers.

[Joe Carillo]

Welcome to the Forum, English Maiden!

First, let’s consider the word “destiny,” which could either be a countable noun or noncountable noun depending on its usage. It’s countable when it denotes what will happen to somebody in the future, particularly outcomes that he or she can’t change or avoid. On the other hand, it’s noncountable when it refers to the unknowable entity that’s believed to have the power to control events.

Now, in Sentences A1 and A2, “destiny” is obviously being used in the countable sense since it refers to the individual destinies of the people who comprise the plural pronoun “we.” Sentence A1, which pluralizes the count noun “destiny” into “destinies,” is therefore the correct sentence construction: “We are the masters of our own destinies.” Sentence A2, “We are the masters of our own destiny,” is grammatically and semantically wrong.

Let’s tackle the term “sex life” next. Obviously, the noun “life” is being used in the context of “human activities,” so it’s definitely a countable noun. This is in contrast to the use of “life” as a noncountable noun in the sense of the animating and shaping force in living things. The term “sex life,” then, is a countable noun that should be pluralized to “sex lives” when it refers to the individual sexual activities of the people who comprise the plural pronoun “we.”

Based on this grammatical analysis, Sentence B2 is the preferable sentence construction: “People with diabetes can still have normal sex lives.”  I say preferable because Sentence B1 is also grammatically and semantically correct: “People with diabetes can still have a normal sex life.” Unlike the noun “destiny,” which is a countable noun that pertains solely to a particular individual, “sex life” can also be construed as a plural collective noun that pertains to people in general.     

What this is telling us, English Maiden, is that whether a countable or noncountable noun will be plural or singular also depends on the nature and attributes of the noun itself and not just on its grammatical usage in the sentence.

[English Maiden]

Thanks for quickly responding to my post. I appreciate all your answers. I am still a tad confused, though. No, I'm still confused. I've encountered the following sentences, and I'm wondering if the singular nouns in them could also or should be in the plural:

1. Should women take their husband's last name? (Would it also be correct to write "Should women take their husbands' last names?"?)
2. Good liars are often skilled at staring into their questioner's eyes. (Wouldn't it be better to change questioner's eyes to questioners' eyes to make it agree to the main subject of the sentence "good liars"?)

I don't know if I'm just complicating things here, but I'm really confused. I hope you still respond. Thank you in advance! :-)

[Joe Carillo]

No, you are not complicating things, English Maiden. You are dealing here with some truly perplexing aspects of English grammar that need explication from the standpoint of logic—not just of semantics—to be thoroughly understood.

In Item 1, both sentence constructions are not advisable. In modern monogamous societies, as we know, it’s highly unlikely for a woman to have more than one husband. The sentence “Should women take their husbands’ last names?” is therefore notionally untenable, so it’s more semantically appropriate to use the singular form for both the noun “women” and the noun “husband,” as in the following construction: “Should a woman take her husband’s last name?”

On the other hand, the sentence “Should women take their husband’s last name?” would be notionally possible in Muslim and other polygamous societies where a man could have one or several wives. In other words, a number of women can actually share the same husband. Asking the question “Should women take their husband’s last name?” therefore makes sense both grammatically and semantically. In monogamous societies, though, only the notionally singular sentence in Item 1 above would make sense semantically: “Should a woman take her husband’s last name?”

In the sentence constructions in Item 2, there’s no grammatical or logical need to make the operative subject, “good liars,” agree in number with the object of the preposition “into” (which in this case is either “their questioner’s eyes” or “their questioners’ eyes”). An object of the preposition is independent grammatically from the subject of a sentence, so it can take any number—whether singular or plural—irrespective of the number of the subject. We must keep in mind that the subject-verb agreement rule applies only to the relationship between a subject and its operative verb. This being the case, both versions of the sentence you presented are grammatically and semantically correct as general statements:

“Good liars are often skilled at staring into their questioner’s eyes.”
“Good liars are often skilled at staring into their questioners’ eyes.”

RELATED POSTING IN THE FORUM:
The Proper Use of “Amount” and “Number”

[English Maiden]

Thanks for your answers, Joe! They were a great help! I've only been a member of this forum for over a week, but I have already cleared my mind of a lot of confusing things about the English language that even my English teachers failed to explain to me correctly. I also have a favor to ask of you. If you spot grammar errors in my posts, please feel free to correct them. I promise I won't take offense. Thanks again for your prompt reply!