海角大神

Why is congratulations always plural? Constructions like 鈥淐ongratulation on your promotion!鈥� or 鈥淵our team won 鈥� congrat!鈥� just sound wrong. This question has a simple answer and a more complicated one. Let鈥檚 get into the weeds first.

Some grammarians put congratulations on the list of pluralia tantum, words that occur only in the plural, like belongings, leftovers, and trousers. But while belongings et al. really don鈥檛 have singular forms 鈥� one would never say 鈥淚 bought a trouser鈥� 鈥� congratulations does, as in the phrase 鈥渁 typical congratulation takes the form of ...鈥� for example. I would argue that the real issue is whether听congratulation(s) is a count noun or a noncount noun.听

Count nouns answer the question 鈥淗ow many?鈥� How many chairs are there? Six chairs; a few chairs. 鈥淗ow much?鈥� elicits a noncount, or mass noun, an undifferentiated quantity or abstract quality. How much sand is at the beach? There鈥檚 a lot of sand, never 鈥渟ix鈥� or 鈥渁 few sands.鈥� Congratulation(s) works in both categories.

Nouns formed with the Latin suffix -tion are often both count and noncount nouns. The suffix takes verb 鈥淴鈥� and makes a noun that means 鈥渢he state or condition of being X鈥檇鈥� 鈥� completion is thus the state of being completed, protection the condition of being protected, and so on. These are mass nouns, abstract ideas that don鈥檛 make sense to count. The suffix also creates countable nouns that refer to concrete 鈥渋nstantiations鈥� of X, to paraphrase the Oxford English Dictionary. Thus we can have the abstract idea of detention, and also countable detentions.听

Not all -tion words occupy slots in both categories, though, and which nouns are what kind has changed over the years. Starvation is always a mass noun 鈥� 鈥渕uch starvation is avoidable,鈥� not 鈥渕any starvations.鈥� Munitions is almost always a count noun: 鈥渢he army has many munitions.鈥� Today information is a mass noun, but in the past it was countable too 鈥� people frequently conveyed 鈥渕any informations鈥� as well as 鈥渕uch information鈥� from the 15th through the 19th centuries. English would not have had to develop very differently for 鈥淸Much] congratulation on your promotion!鈥� to be the norm.

The English language gives us the tools to craft innumerable ways to convey gratitude, sympathy, sorrow, or happiness over the achievements of others. If you don鈥檛 want to think too hard about it, English also has a number of rote formal expressions of feelings: I give you my condolences, my sympathies; thanks; congratulations.听

Why give one congratulation when you could give many!听