choose one good

[keannu]

Is it possible to say "one good" for "one product"? Doesn't it have to be "one goods"? This is a part of some writing, but I'm not sure.

ex) Opportunity cost occurs when we choose one good, service, or action over another. The next-best choice we give up is the opportunity cost The in-line skates are Anne's opportunity cost of choosing the bike, and the basketball is Brian's opportunity cost of choosing the baseball cap.

 

[White Hat]

product?

 

[keannu]

product?

Goods meaning products have to be always plural, but I'm not sure.

 

[White Hat]

I believe this was written by a native speaker:

Producer is anyone who makes or grows a good, or performs a service.
Consumer is anyone who buys a good or a service.
Opportunity Cost is the process of choosing one good or service over another. The item that you don’t pick is the opportunity cost.

 

[keannu]

I believe this was written by a native speaker:

Producer is anyone who makes or grows a good, or performs a service.
Consumer is anyone who buys a good or a service.
Opportunity Cost is the process of choosing one good or service over another. The item that you don’t pick is the opportunity cost.

But I haven't seen any singular form of "good" for products, but only "goods". The dictionary also defines "goods" not good.

 

[White Hat]

Capitalism is a system where resources are voluntarily redirected to each whose ideas are better than the last, and whose products serve more needs; competition is the process by which these new products and ideas are discovered. At any one moment in time it might appear that wasteful production of similar goods is taking place, but when consumers choose one good over another they make it possible for the producer of the more valued good to continue production, and signal to others in the industry to step aside. With government-granted monopolies, resources are squandered and incompetence is rewarded.

by Theodore Phalan

 

[5jj]

I have never heard or seen 'one/a good'. It seems very unnatural to me.

 

[Rover_KE]

I have seen 'a good' to mean a product, which took me by surprise. It was in the sort of context quoted by keannu,

However, the OneLook Dictionary search finds only one dictionary out of 33 which allows that it might be acceptable:

good n.

4. (countable, usually in plural) An item of merchandise.

(Wiktionary.com)

so we might reasonably conclude that its use is non-standard and advise students to avoid it.

Rover

 

[keannu]

I have seen 'a good' to mean a product, which took me by surprise. It was in the sort of context quoted by keannu,

However, the OneLook Dictionary search finds only one dictionary out of 33 which allows that it might be acceptable:

(Wiktionary.com)

so we might reasonably conclude that its use is non-standard and advise students to avoid it.

Rover

Okay, it's just 1/33's probability, a very rare possibility not in common use, Then, as the last question, how would you say for meaning "one product"? Would you say "one goods" or just "goods" to mean "one product"?
As I experienced, they don't seem to use a singular expression of goods, "Goods" sounds like a general idea.

 

[5jj]

Then, as the last question, how would you say for meaning "one product"? Would you say "one goods" or just "goods" to mean "one product"?

One product.

 

[keannu]

One product.

Then goods are used in general ideas? No plural or singular form is related?

Customers should buy nice goods.(either singular or plural - just a general idea?)
When you buy goods, you should consider (its or their) quality first.(its or thier?)

Is it either singular or plural or always plural?

 

[5jj]

Goods is plural. It just happens not to have a singular form, for most people.

Similar words are cattle, staff, police, groceries, clothes, ...