Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[BMO]

I am not sure if it is activity or activities.

[cgage]

It could be either but the common usage is activity.

[BMO]

Thanks, cgage, flurry itself means many things coming together, right?

[LucentShade]

Another common use of "flurry" is with snow--it means a lot of snowflakes being tossed around by the wind--in general, a chaotic situation with lots of things moving around in random ways.

"Snow flurries are expected overnight, ending by morning."

[BMO]

But would you say "snow flurry" instead of "snow flurries?"

[cgage]

This is getting meteorlogical. I believe that when one refers to snow flurries, they are referring to a number of flurry incidents. Meriam Webster Dictionary describes the derivation of the word as from "flurr" which means to scatter. So, flurries are several scatterings.

[BMO]

Got it and thanks again.

BMO

[advoca]

A flurry of something such as activity or excitement is a short intense period of it.

Activity is used here as a non-countable noun. There can be activity or lots of activity.
The terrorists in Iraq are engaged in a flurry of activity.

But activity can also be a noun and there can be lots of activities.
The activities of the terrorists never seem to stop.

[BMO]

Thank you so much.