@ElendilTheTail: But what you have here is the number -1, not the number 1. And if the claim that plural means more than one is true (which I doubt: I think the plural means "not one"), then -1 is certainly less than 1, so it can't be plural by that definition. :p
@ShreevatsaR On the fact that I was born and raised a Brit; that I've been speaking English for 56 years; that I speak other languages, which has allowed me to compare usage of different grammars. I would humbly propose that these give me the right to at least express an opinion. One cannot be plural in English, but it can in other languages: In Russian, for example, one in the plural - одни - is used to express 'alone' when applied to more than one person.
@ElendilTheTall: I think there's a communication gap or confusion between cases where the number in question is 1 which merely happens to be in a "minus" role, and cases where the number is -1. I was including the latter case (as in a hypothetical sentence from a maths class: "Jack paying Jill 1 dollar is equivalent to Jill paying Jack -1 dollars"). And "no exceptions" would presumably cover the latter case as well, so it's important to discuss. (Of course, in some instances of "minus one", there is still 'one' of whatever you're talking about, and in such cases you'd use the singular.)
@smirkingman I disagree. A profit of -1 dollar(s) is entirely valid, even if it's equivalent to a loss of 1 dollar. Or think of a negative cashflow of -1 dollar(s). It makes total sense if you have some accounting background.
@ElendilTheTall I'm not sure I agree with that. I think if anything it's different fields have adopted either the correct or incorrect way of saying it.
@smirkingman: I gave the example of "Jill paying Jack -1 dollars" not to say the plural is the sole correct usage in that case (though it's what I prefer), but only to show that it's an instance where the number in question is -1, not 1 (and where, consequently, the alleged definition of plural as "more than one" does not apply, for if it did then we'd have to say "-2 dollar" as well, -2 not being more than 1).
@ElendilTheTall: I claimed that the definition of plural is "anything other than one", rather than "more than one". You effectively seem to agree, by (apparently) using some definition under which numbers like 0.25 and -2 are "grammatically" about multiple subjects and hence "more than 1". That's fine with me. :-)
@smirkingman, it's likely because you're not explaining the answer. People come here to learn why, not just what a rule is. All the one-line answers have been downvoted for likely that reason. Give an explanation, quote a source, etc. I tend to downvote for inconsiderate responses, not just short ones.
@Stephen Ah, thanks for the heads-up. It's just that when I read a question that runs to just 29 characters, I tend to give a concomitantly curt response; and in this case I couldn't think of anything constructive to add to the fact that 'one' is singular, regardless of whether it's negative or not.
@smirkingman, the question may be short because the OP is a non-native english speaker. They may not be able to give more in the question. I encourage you to teach, don't just give an answer. :)
@smirkingman Just to explain the 29 characters: Sometimes short is sweet. I got my question across and besides the one clarification which I answered, it appears I was well understood. The answers "yes" and "no" kind of turn the question into a poll. I didn't downvote though.
@Stephen I am a native English speaker. :) This is just a question I've been debating amongst friends.
@marcog, I was talking in general. There's a lot of non-native speakers on here, and I believe that chinese doesn't use plurality or genders in their pronouns or nouns. So this is a very valid question if people are speaking in plurals that they're not used to or weren't taught.
@marcog, you're south-african though. So I'm sure your English is quite different than American (and all it's accents/dialects), British, Indian, and Hong Kong English just from the other languages your culture is associated with. Not that I, as an engineer, speak decent English. :) I'm on here mainly to learn what programming as pushed out!
@Stephen South African English is very close to British English as we were a British colony for many years and we're still part of the commonwealth. What I learn from this answer will affect an IRC bot I contribute to, which currently follows British English.
@Stephen That's true, but for us it was more recent so we've had less time to move away from British English. I agree with you 99.9% of the time, but with this bot we try make the English as natural as possible and we don't want to get some obvious cases wrong. @smirkingman :D
@smirkingman: BTW, to explain my first comment: it wasn't meant to dispute your answer, but I only asked because (1) the bare answer was not very illuminating: it's more useful if answers have some reasoning or explanation or authority; even "the fact that I was born and raised a Brit; that I've been speaking English for 56 years…" etc. would be (slightly) more helpful than an answer that's just "someone on the internet said so", and (2) very few questions on this site seem to have answers that can validly end with "No exceptions", so a strong claim seems to require strong support. :-)
@shreevatsar You're quite right, it was strong and lacking justification. Mea culpa, I'll try and support my strong opinions with more than pure conviction in future >;-)
Discussion on answer by smirkingman: …
Discussion on answer by smirkingman: …