Helen and Lily,
When I wrote the email to you about the Raptors going to the NBA Final, I used the singular noun “Final.” I’ve heard a lot on YouTube that people used to say the NBA “Finals.” When I penned the email, I thought about it for a second or two, whether I should use the word “Final” or “Finals.” In the spur of the excitement, I didn’t bother to check the dictionaries. After sending the email to you, I also wrote another email to my high school classmates who are Canadians and shared my excitement with them. Irene yee-yee wrote back on her experience driving south through Yonge Street, which I just forwarded to you. In it she wrote about the NBA “Finals.” So I started to check...
It turns out quite a number of native speakers are not sure of the correct use of the term, whether one should call it the “Final” or the “Finals.” Since the NBA Finals are the best of seven games series, it turns out that we should call it the “Finals.” If it is a one-game final, then we should call it the “Final” instead.
“Finals” is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “A series of games constituting the final stage of a competition,” and the term is used as a plural noun, carrying a plural verb. Examples:
They will have to sit out remaining match suspensions when the finals begin on June 8.
(Longman Dictionary)
There are still seats available for tonight's finals which start at 7 pm. (Oxford Dictionary)
However, among sports journalists even, the term is still in debate -- see the arguments among them in "NBA Finals -- singular or plural? The NBA Finals are basketball's biggest stage? OR The NBA Finals is basketball's biggest stage?" (Sports Journalists.com)
And Wikipedia is treating "Finals" as a singular noun:
The NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). (Wikipedia)
What a mess, eh?
Then I started to wonder about the use of the term “series” as well. Is it a singular noun or a plural noun? Many dictionaries fail to indicate whether it is a singular or a plural noun, except the Cambridge Dictionary. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, both the singular noun and the plural noun of “series” are spelled the same. Many of the examples given in the dictionaries use the term as a singular noun though. An example:
A series of scandals over the past year has not helped public confidence in the administration. (Cambridge Dictionary)
I have to go to Google to find examples such as “There are too many series defined.”
So I’ve learned two words today. Just want to share it with you.
Love you,
Dad.
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