dice singular or plural

[johnk]

Is dice one of those words tht's the same for singular or plural, ie 1 dice and 2 dice

[Quizmonster]

Gingejbee, there is not necessarily anything wrong with the words, "the group are missing."
"In British English, collective nouns MAY be correctly followed by either a singular or a plural verb." (My capitals)
The quote above is from Fowler's Modern English Usage, widely recognised as one of the ‘bibles' of what is admissible.
Example 1...
a. The jury retires later today to consider its verdict.
b. The jury retire later today to consider their verdict.
The word ‘jury' is definitely singular, as there is a plural form, ‘juries'...yet jury can have either a singular or plural verb-form and a singular or plural possessive form.
Example 2...
Someone may approach a bridge card-table and ask one of the players: "What's trumps?" The question he is obviously asking in his own head is: "Of the four suits in the pack, which individual one is the trump suit for this game?" (Clearly singular for him, hence the verb ‘is'.)
The player may well reply: "Clubs are." The answer he is obviously providing in his own head is: "All the cards in the pack which are club cards are trump cards." (Clearly plural for him, hence the verb ‘are'.)
Example 3...
It is perfectly acceptable to say either, "Manchester United are playing well at the moment" or "Manchester United is playing well at the moment."
It all depends on whether one sees the collective word under consideration as singular or plural in the particular circumstances, as suggested by the words, "in his own head" above.
Some collective words - collection, for example - would probably never have ‘are' as the associated verb but, for a multitude of others, it is quite clear that you are free to use either a singular or plural verb.

[Clanad]

In line with Q's always informative deposition, one finds the previously mentioned jury as especially instructive since it is often used in the participle form which is unique to the English language.

When selecting art work to be displayed at a show, for example one could state "it's been juried..." The jury can consist of but one individual, or conversely, be made up of a number of persons. The word is often intercalated like a fine damascene within the "lingo" of the world of fine art.

[paddywak]

Dice is indeed one of those words

dice1
n (pl dice) (also die) a small cube with faces numbered or otherwise distinguished, thrown in games of chance, etc; a small cubical piece; a game of chance.
vi to play with dice; to take great risks.
vt to cut into dice; to chequer.
[Orig pl of die2]
diced adj ornamented with a chequered pattern; cut into dice.
d\-icer n.
d\-icey adj () risky; tricky; uncertain in result.
d\-icing n a chequered pattern; dice-playing.
dice-box n an hourglass-shaped box from which dice are thrown.
dice-coal n a coal that breaks into cubical blocks.
dice-play n.
dice-player n.
dice with death to take great risks.
no dice no answer, or a negative answer; no success.

\u00A9 Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd: The Chambers Dictionary 2003; The Chambers Thesaurus 2004

[wrongtupelo]

The singular of dice is die.....

[wildwood]

Well, you learn something every day.... or did I ?

[4getmenot]

because thats right scrummymummy

[vulcan]

We were taught at school "of those who dice on the road, one will surely die"

[venator]

builder - alea jacta est ...

That's the singular; aleae is plural.

Julius Caesar had it right! <]:-)

[venator]

There are lots of cases where common usage is strictly incorrect, but as long as the meaning is clear, or you're writing an exam paper, it don't really matter.

For instance, the Government is a collective noun, and is singular. People often refer to it as "they", even on the telly..

[johnk]

Sorry Builder, is that VATs as a plural?!

[seadogg]

What about crap dice. They exist only in pairs, hence "shoot the craps". Using the singular the phrase has an entirely different meaning and one well explored on this hallowed site.

[pator]

plural are die