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Source: https://www.realmenrealstyle.com/public-restroom-rules/

I came across this article and thinking whether the use of plural form in the following sentence is necessary

2 . Conversation Etiquette ......

This is not a time to be social and discuss politics or sports.

Why not just "discuss politic or sport"?
Why is it necessary to be plural?

Any help will/would be appreciated!

ordem
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    Possible duplicate of Sports – singular or plural; the plural form with singular agreement of 'politics' is doubtless covered elsewhere, but would be suitable on ELL. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 17 '19 at 15:46
  • Perhaps your native language is other than English. Some nouns in English are written with a final "s", but that does not indicate that they are a plural. These include words describing branches of knowledge such as "Mathematics, Physics, Economics, etc"...also diseases, such as "measles, mumps, etc.", as well as other newsworthy topics such as "sports" and "politics". – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Aug 17 '19 at 21:48

1 Answers1

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Politics isn't really the plural of "politic" (which is an adjective). As a topic, "politics" is singular; as shorthand for "political considerations", it's plural, but again, one political consideration isn't "a politic", it's still "politics".

Sports is a little different. "Sport" is commonly used in British English, but not as common in American English. In both, "sports" is commonly plural. But it can still be used as a mass/uncountable noun.

Here's a good answer for sport.

Here's a good discussion for politics.

jeffB
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