eli5 why do we use “s” at the end of words with 0 quantity?

Question

0 elephants

1 elephant

2 elephants

100 elephants

I understand the “s” for quantities larger than 1 because it’s plural (more than 1) — but why for 0, which is less than 1? Why does it just “feel more comfortable” (including for me)? Is there a logical reason behind it?

In: 5848

Answer 1

Grammatically every numeral that is not 1 uses the plural. At least in english.

You would say there are 0.9 elephants instead of there is 0.9 elephant as well.

The reason it feels more comfortable to you is that learning the english language has trained you think that way. Other languages do it differently. And in casual english you could easily say something like there is no elephant at all. But if you use a numerical value it is just stuck in language and culture. Just a matter of being used to it.