12
\$\begingroup\$

When posting my first question, I noticed the (plural) and (singular) tags both exist. I propose setting to be a synonym of .

Concerning singular/plural; I cannot find a Stack Exchange consensus on which is best. Sometimes both are required, e.g. and are very completely different things and should remain different tags. On Electrical Engineering specifically, I found the same lack of consensus with plural synonyms winning in some cases like and , but singular synonyms winning in cases like and .

\$\endgroup\$
11
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Side remark: as a non-native English speaker, I never remember, but it seems we always use the plural form, or is that wrong? If you speak about a single device, do you say "Please find the device schematics." or "Please find the device schematic here."? Or "Please find the schematic(s?) of the device here." Which one is correct? Thanks! \$\endgroup\$
    – Basj
    Nov 20, 2021 at 13:01
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Basj - I would go for "Please find the [device's] schematics here". Pluralising schematic isn't essential, but if you are referring to the device, it should be the possessive device's. This is my opinion, there may be a real grammatical rule to follow! :) \$\endgroup\$
    – awjlogan
    Nov 20, 2021 at 20:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks @awjlogan! About singular/plural, in your example, why did you use plural in "Please find the device's schematics here", since it is just one single device? Does this mean we nearly always use plural for schematics? \$\endgroup\$
    – Basj
    Nov 21, 2021 at 9:48
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ @Basj - there are likely to be multiple schematics for a single device. Maybe it's colloquial, but I would usually says here are the schematics even if it is just one page. I apologise for the lack of formal grammar! \$\endgroup\$
    – awjlogan
    Nov 21, 2021 at 12:44
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ @Basj @awjlogan I am a native American English speaker and at my work, we refer to panel schematics and field schematics. No possessive and no singular. I think grammar rules allow either way depending on what exactly you're trying to communicate. I suggested the plural tag because of tags like [circuits] and [resistors], and [units], but it appears plenty of singular tags exist as well like [connector], [led], and [pcb] \$\endgroup\$
    – Micah Lindstrom
    Nov 21, 2021 at 15:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ I'd tend to prefer schematics, even though there may be edge cases where the singular might be preferred. That seems to be confirmed by their existing relative frequency of usage on the site. Delete schematic, keep schematics. \$\endgroup\$
    – Neil_UK
    Nov 22, 2021 at 9:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ I don't believe there's any benefit in merging the tags. schematic should simply by removed - 45 questions isn't a lot. Unless there's a ease of moderation benefit in merging tags first and then remove one alias - someone who knows the mod tools better than me will have to make that call. \$\endgroup\$
    – Lundin
    Nov 23, 2021 at 14:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Lundin, please see my edits to the question. I cannot find Stack Exchange consensus on whether singular/plural is preferred, and I see plenty of singular/plural tags which have been marked as synonyms. \$\endgroup\$
    – Micah Lindstrom
    Nov 24, 2021 at 16:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ @MicahLindstrom Stack Exchange consensus is irrelevant. What matters for terms on this site is 1) Is there a formal term derived from science or standardization? If so use that. 2) If not, then is there a "de facto" standard term used by EE? If so use that. 3) If not, then is there an engineering jargon term for it? If so use that. 4) If all of the previous failed, then yeah I suppose go look for SE tag naming policies. \$\endgroup\$
    – Lundin
    Nov 25, 2021 at 10:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ In this case I believe schematics (plural) is somewhere between 2 and 3. \$\endgroup\$
    – Lundin
    Nov 25, 2021 at 10:15
  • \$\begingroup\$ Gonna weigh in on the schematic vs schematics usage. For "the device's (singular) schematic(s)" the correct version is "device's schematic" since device is a singular noun. If you take "schematic" to mean diagram then technically you can refer to all pages, each containing a diagram, as parts of one large diagram (schematic) which is the device. The difference between referring to schematic and schematics is whether you are referring to the whole or the parts. It's the difference between saying "the car" and "the car's parts." \$\endgroup\$
    – Andrew
    Dec 2, 2021 at 2:36

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
7
\$\begingroup\$

I say we use only the schematics tag since that is what every one types in anyway (and that is really the use of the tag). If I get 10 upvotes on this post I'll merge them.

\$\endgroup\$
2
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ The question and answer have only upvotes nearly one year later. Everyone who has voted is in agreement with a change. Considering the lack of traffic here on meta, I'd say 10 upvotes is arbitrarily high. Please make the change; I saw a new question posted today with both tags, and I was confused as to what the difference was between the tags. \$\endgroup\$
    – toolic
    Nov 3, 2022 at 12:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ The question has over 10 upvotes, please act... \$\endgroup\$
    – Armandas
    Jan 23 at 23:36

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .