Singular or Plural?

[hermann7]

1.Without the flood in the village 10 years ago,the group of youths could have led a happy life with their parents during their childhood.
Why can't I say happy lives ?
2.A survey indicates that,on account of the difficulty they have in finding a satisfying job,many college students are in favor of running on-line shops.
Why can't I say satisfying jobs? Please help me.

 

[Rover_KE]

Who says you can't use those phrases?

 

[hermann7]

Who says you can't use those phrases?

the preference answers are given only by the singular ones

 

[Barb_D]

The problem with "distributed plurals" (and I put it in quotes so you can look it up and do more research on your own) only arises when there is a chance of confusion.

If you say "life" we know you mean each child has his or her own life. They don't share. It's not ambiguous. You could also say "lives." It's also not ambiguous. You won't wonder whether one person had one life and one had two or three.

With jobs, a person can have many in a lifetime. Two people don't share the same job (usually) so using "job" makes it clear you mean one job each. You create ambiguity if you say "jobs."