Oh, I cringed at that Lord Hornblower stuff, too. But, like you, that didn't keep me from enjoying the story.
I did not know that the word accommodation does not merit an S in British English. As a linguist, I find that fascinating. I suppose the word could be deemed plural on its own, but to my American ears, it would sound decidedly odd without the S.
Now that I think about it, we use accommodation both with and without the S, but the uses are distinct and generally do not overlap. Without the S would be a variant of the verb accommodate, as in "Did you make accommodation for her?" That could also be said, "Did you accommodate her?" With the S is the way used in the story: "Are your accommodations satisfactory?"
There may be dialects of American English, such as Boston Brahmins, which use accommodation the British way. But I do not know for sure. Fascinating.
Anyway, sorry to get carried away. As you can see, little questions such as this about English are endlessly intriguing to me. *doffs linguist cap in slight embarrassment*
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I did not know that the word accommodation does not merit an S in British English. As a linguist, I find that fascinating. I suppose the word could be deemed plural on its own, but to my American ears, it would sound decidedly odd without the S.
Now that I think about it, we use accommodation both with and without the S, but the uses are distinct and generally do not overlap. Without the S would be a variant of the verb accommodate, as in "Did you make accommodation for her?" That could also be said, "Did you accommodate her?" With the S is the way used in the story: "Are your accommodations satisfactory?"
There may be dialects of American English, such as Boston Brahmins, which use accommodation the British way. But I do not know for sure. Fascinating.
Anyway, sorry to get carried away. As you can see, little questions such as this about English are endlessly intriguing to me. *doffs linguist cap in slight embarrassment*