countable or uncountable noun

Emperor penguins have interesting egg-laying habits
                         ^^^
My question is why it cannot be the form \" habit,\" but must be plural?
isn't the word \"habit\" here to show their usual behaviour? if it were, it
should be a single form, isn't it?

According to Longman ONLINE, \"habit\" can be a countable or uncountable
noun. So, the question here is how many different kinds of behavior
patterns you know regarding emperor penguins' egg-laying habits. In
other words, the author knows there're more than one egg-laying habits,
and that's why he wrote it that way. Of course, if you are so sure
there's only one single kind of egg-laying habit, then, yeah, go ahead
and write \"habit\".

xiao4zhu

在这里"egg-laying habits"是一个词组，属于科技英语中的专有名词，跟单复数没有关系

agldacheng

楼上的高手能否说得再详细些呢?

xiao4zhu

没啥可说的 就是“产卵习性”，也就是昆虫类的一种生命持续方式。
Egg-laying habits are distinctive in many orthopteran(直翅目昆虫) species. Among cockroaches(螳螂), only one family (Blaberidae) is viviparous; the other four families contain species that have well formed egg cases (oothecae). Among these families, some species carry the oothecae protruding from the body until hatching time is near; others, however, deposit their egg cases within several days of formation. Usually oothecae contain from a few to more than 30 eggs arranged in two rows. Along one edge of the ootheca is a seam that bears a keel, or ridge; the shape of the ridge varies in species that carry the ootheca externally. Minute openings from the base of the keel to the interior of the ootheca are known to be a ventilating device in some species. The ootheca is first carried in the body with the keel uppermost; in certain groups, however, it is rotated prior to deposition so that the keel is on one side. Details concerning positioning of the ootheca and other aspects of egg laying were not correlated with behaviour patterns or group affinities until a basis for understanding their significance was established.

如果细抠语法，可以这么理解，昆虫产卵是一个系统工程，中间有着若干环节与流程，比如迁徙、交配对象遴选标准及流程、时间选择...，这样的话就不是一个习惯了，类似于地域风俗。

白马西北驰

觉得楼上未免有点武断，请看我从Encarta抄的一句：

The egg-laying habit of birds enables young to develop outside the body of the female, significantly lightening her load.

对生物专业不熟悉，但这个例子至少说明"t he egg-laying habits"不是一定要作复数的。
楼主举的句子语法上 也没有问题，那么可能的答案只能是复数形式表达特定的含义。
请楼主把这句话的出处、上下文补全好么？这样才好讨论呀

xiao4zhu

晕了，较这个真干什么呀，这又不是什么原则性问题，即使是有定论的问题，也是有人不遵守规则的。
用google检索两个关键词可见一斑
http://72.14.203.184/search?q=%2 ... -CN&newwindow=1
http://72.14.203.184/search?hl=z ... g+habits%22&lr=
看看结果分别是什么就行了。
这里又涉及到google的检索语法了，就不扯远了，关键是那个减号，就是NOT不可共存的意思。
网页 约有864项符合"egg-laying habits" -"egg-laying habit"的查询结果
网页 约有159项符合"egg-laying habit" -"egg-laying habits"的查询结果 注意看文献中作者的工作单位及背景...

争论这个没有意义的，因为从英语的语法规则来说，没有绝对，例外到处都有，有的只是约定俗成，从google的检索结果很容易可以看出哪个是约定俗成...

个人理解：

首先，egg-laying habit是一个习惯表达，还谈不上什么术语

第二，加不加s都可以，但是从纯粹的语法角度说，是有区别的。
不加s，是以单数形式，泛指一类。比如我说pupil，单数，泛指一类人。
如果我加上s，那就有可能是泛指一些习惯，也有可能是具体指某些习惯。
不知道这篇文章之后是不是介绍了很多孵化习惯。
关键看上下文，不要凭空理解。

其实任何语言都不是铁板一块，很多时候都需要自己去体会，去感悟。文科永远没有固定的答案

谢谢

Michel2kme

1. habit表示动植物的“习性”可以用作可数名词和不可数名词；其中，表示特定的动植物习性用作可数名词，可用 a habit(s)；表示一类动植物习性用作不可数名词，可用habit。
2.表示多种不同的习性，要用复数“habits”；表示某种习性，要用单数“habit”。
例句如下：
1. Ivy has a climbing habit.
常春藤有攀缘向上的习性。
2.Emperor penguins have interesting egg-laying habits.
皇帝企鹅具有（多种）有趣的下蛋习性。

放点图片了解企鹅的living habit吧：

pharm.d

这个句子给我的感觉是单复数都可以——这是个科学问题而非语言问题，完全要看帝企鹅到底有多少种孵蛋方式。
同6楼的，我也感觉如果后文介绍了多种方式的话，还是用复数为佳。