IX. Plural and Singular Term Forms
The ISO standards recommend that each language be displayed following its national standard even if this results in parallel displays in both the singular and the plural. ISO 5964 states that in general the singular is preferred in French and German thesauri, while the plural is preferred in British English and American English thesauri. Singular or plural use may also depend on the type of institution that creates the vocabulary. The Anglo-American library community in many cases prefers the plural for count nouns and the singular for non-count nouns; the museum community often applies the singular for both count and non-count nouns. The International Terminology Working Group accepts both plural and singular use in participating vocabularies according to the current usage of each. Equivalents are acceptable between singular terms in one vocabulary and plural in the other[17].
17. For purposes of consistency, members of the Religious Objects Thesaurus working group agreed that all terms in the thesaurus would be in the singular.
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