Should the words "Aisle," "Exit," "Chapter," and "Section" be plural below? Or are all examples below grammatically correct? Unfortunately I cannot omit the abbreviation "Nos." in these. Thanks for any advice. He fell between Aisle Nos. 6 and 7. He passed Exit Nos. 5 and 6. Please read Chapter Nos. 1 and 2 by tomorrow. Refer to Section Nos. 12 and 13.
Plural. They should read "aisles number six and seven" etc because it's the aisles, not the numbers, that are plural.
Careful there, the "Nos." are plural already (for numbers) Aisle Numbers... Exit Numbers... Section Numbers... --Edit-- Let me think this through. I believe it works both ways.
It depends really. "Aisles Number" states that there are multiple aisles. "Aisle Numbers" directly references that there are multiple numbers, thus, multiple aisles. In any case, both are correct and is author's discrepancy
Mm. Honestly grammar's not my strong suit, so I can't debate if one's more proper than the other. I'd pluralize, though.
I think the correct choice is to have the noun in the plural and "No." in the singular, e.g., between Aisles No. 6 and 7, Exits No. 5 and 6, etc. We do need a plural noun as reference is being made to two aisles / exits / chapters / sections. "No." is implied for the second number and can thus remain in the singular. I think this is the most logical way to approach this.
I think the correct choice is to have the noun in the plural and omit the word OR abbreviation number/No. So, the garden equipment is in aisle 6, there was a traffic jam between exits 5 and 7, I managed to read chapters 1 to 3 last night, etc.
Keep it simple, "number" is redundant. A number following an item indicates that it is a sequential numbering of identical items, because it can't be anything else. I can't imagine myself saying using number that way, except maybe singular 'aisle number 4" all by itself. People in a store giving directions to find an item will use that interchangeably in the singular, or they will say "aisle number 6 and aisle number 7." "Aisles 6 and 7" and "exits 5 and 7" are perfectly clear. Since I also do extensive technical writing (up to 250 pgs per doc), I use that convention as well in that 'genre': "transmitters 3 and 4 are connected to antennas 1 and 2." "oscillators 3 and 4 run at 70 MHz", etc. Redundancy is the enemy of clarity!
Aisle numbers 6 & 7. Aisles numbered 6 & 7. To be honest, I don't really see a reason to have 'numbers' in there at all. Either way, the plural works with both cases to me.
Do you mean that "Nos." must appear in these, or that IF you use "numbers", you must express it as "Nos."? Because I can't find a way that these don't grate horribly, if the "Nos." is mandatory.