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Which is correct: "one hundred and one apple" or "one hundred and one apples"?

The first version seems more likely, but there are "101 Dalmatians".

3 Answers 3

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Consider a sentence where the apples are the subject.

One hundred and one apple rolls down the street. That sounds pretty strange. A disagreement with the verb would be even worse.

It's more than one apple, so it should be plural.

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  • It sounds exactly like that in Russian, so that was a bad example :) Nov 12, 2015 at 12:24
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Plural form -> greater than one.

Hence, 'one hundred and one APPLES' is CORRECT. (101 > 1)

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    1.01 is certainly plural. Nov 12, 2015 at 12:26
  • @polkovnikov.ph, Basically, 1.01 is still > 1. I just provided the case as other users might ask. I believe they should ask it in a different question so as to make it searchable online. (take note: I said, I'm NOT here to answer the case where 1.01 > 1)
    – shin
    Nov 12, 2015 at 12:32
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    I'm trying to think of what form I would use after something like 1.01, and I think it's plural. One point zero one unit has been shipped? No, that sounds wrong. One point zero one units have been shipped sounds much more natural.
    – stangdon
    Nov 12, 2015 at 15:06
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A good way to handle this is to simply use numerals, particularly for three-digit numbers:

101 apples.

That said, if you must spell out the number for some reason, the noun should agree with the entire value, not just the last digit:

one hundred and one apples.

You may find some style guides that recommend omitting the and:

one hundred one apples.

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