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    Wondergirl's Avatar
    Wondergirl Posts: 39,354, Reputation: 5431
    Jobs & Parenting Expert
    		  
    #1

    Dec 9, 2011, 06:56 PM
    Why do we use the plural when describing the sky or heaven?
    My cyber son in Japan emailed me these questions:

    I want to ask you a question about a usage of English. You say "heavens", "skies". Why are they plural ?

    What is the difference from the singular "heaven", "sky" ?

    Latin seems to have this usage of plural form, too, as I often see such examples in the dictionary's example sentences.

    Can you help me with my answer to Junya?
    buttler73's Avatar
    buttler73 Posts: 10, Reputation: 1
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    #2

    Dec 9, 2011, 09:04 PM
    I think that skies can be explained as morning or evening skies. They are the same but different you have the night skyearly morning sky. Just different looking skies. Plus his sky is different from ours. That's multiple vies... Heavens... Heavens on a religious thought do all Gods live in a single heaven? Heaven is the house of a God or gods. And Odin lives in a different Heaven than Jesus or Zeus. Different Heavens for different gods is my guess.
    gevatter's Avatar
    gevatter Posts: 6, Reputation: 3
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    #3

    Feb 20, 2012, 09:45 AM
    As buttler73 said: skies is used for "night sky", "cloudy sky" etc. so you have many different skies.

    Heaven/Heavens on the other hand is not only used as a reference for Heaven in a religious manner...

    It is often used literary in books and texts to describe the sky in a more poetic way.
    Eyeoneduh's Avatar
    Eyeoneduh Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
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    #4

    Nov 3, 2012, 04:00 PM
    Thanks you guys, I couldn't believe my eyes when I realised other people think about these things too. And what fantastic, enlightening answers.
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