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User:Un assiolo/Damages versus damage

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The noun damages does not refer to multiple instances of damage. According to the article damages,

At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury.

In other words, damages are paid as compensation for damage. The payment is ordered by a court.

The word damage, when used outside this legal context, is a mass noun: the correct word for multiple instances of damage is damage. Accordingly, all instances of damages should be replaced with damage when the damages were not awarded by a court or sought by a plaintiff.

This of course only refers to the noun. Damages is correct as a verb meaning causes damage.

What to do when the incorrect usage appears in a quote or title

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In these cases, damages should be replaced with {{sic|damage|s}}.[1] This displays as: damages [sic]. The additional parameter |nolink=y may be added to prevent a link, for example, when it appears in the title of a news article that links to the article, to prevent interfering with the link.

Examples

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Edits correcting usage

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  • Diff (note the correct usage as a verb which I left in)
  • Diff

Correct usage of damages

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Further reading

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Notes

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  1. ^ Other ways of splitting the word are possible, such as {{sic|damag|es}} or {{sic|dam|ages}}. They all have the same effect. What matters is that the word is split in two so that it is not detected when searching using insource:.