I can't even begin to post this without wanting to do so in Joe Pesci's voice. But it's text, so you won't hear that. Unless you do by my suggestion, then you're on your own. I have the following passage in my novel: My wife, doing a final QA read, thinks it should be "youths" (no, Steve, not "youts"), but "youth" reads right to me. Anyone got a bead on what the proper usage is? Thanks. JD
For Christ's sake, man, listen to your wife!! As it happens, I think she's right on this one. I read youth in this sentence as a singular young male. Youths makes me think of more than one young male. I'd suggest a variation on young couple, which would work only you've already used that term earlier in the passage.
Your wife is right - youths is the plural form and you are reffering to a couple.. ie more than one... you could say 'the young' if you mean more than just those two but young people in general... but then you'd need to use young fewer times in the preceding sentences if you said " the old man knew what was in store for the couple, and he also knew how little prepared the young are..." that would work
"Youth" *can* refer to young people as a whole, as in "the youth of today". But in your sentence, "youths" is more correct, because it doesn't read like he's making a pronouncement on the younger generation - unless that's your intent.
Youth if it refers to a collection of youths (as in a singular collective noun, like “family”); youths if it refers to more than one individual or a specific number of individuals. In this case, I’d go with youths. Also remember to modify the verb properly - use as a single collective noun: the youth was; the family was; or plural, the youths were; the families were. This is a common mistake, but one to watch for!
Another vote for "youths." In this case, you are using it as a plural noun rather than as a collective noun.
Ditch them both and go with "young." "He also knew how little prepared the young were...." "Youths" sounds awkward to me. That's how everyone talks where I'm from. To me, the rest of you like the weirdos.
I would go with "the youth". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/essential-british-english/youth
In this context, it would be wrong. As pointed out above, "youth" is a collective noun, not a plural, which it needs to be in this case.
I still see youths as young males. What about "their youth left them unprepared" though that may not what you mean. Or " these children ", which could stress the age gap without actually meaning children.
as above, it should be youths in this context, but here's another suggestion - take "young" out of "young couple" in the preceding sentence and use "youngsters" - it's kinda more voicey for the old man scrutinising them (as an aside, that first sentence works bloody hard for its living...)
This is from Garner's Modern English Usage, which if you haven't seen it, can be used as ballast in a container ship. youth. Blah blah . . . usually means male, but this is in context. Blah blah . . . the plural is pronounced /yooths/—not /yoothz/. (the important part) Youth can also be a collective term for the young men and women of a country <all the youth in the land>. In this sense, of course, there is no plural. It would be hard to say youths of the world in the way that we might say peoples of the world, because in the plural form youth simply takes on the abstract sense of young people generally. I'm not even really sure what it is saying though. I don't follow the logic at the end. Obviously "the youth" is fine, and they are okay with "Two youths ate Tide Pods." But they seem to be preferring "All the youth of America succumb to strange fashion," rather than the other construction.
