Feedback one word or two

Is it just us, or does “feedbacks” sound a little weird? If you’ve thought the same thing, you may be doubting your knowledge on what the proper plural form of this word is.

In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about the plural form of the word “feedback.”

The plural form of “feedback” is “feedback.” This is because “feedback” is a mass “uncountable” noun that has no plural form. You cannot count the number “feedbacks” there are, only how much “feedback” there is. Therefore, “feedbacks” is an incorrect plural form.

Feedback or Feedbacks

To better understand this, we need to get a little technical, so let’s pop on over to the Oxford Dictionary Lexico and its explanation of “countable” and “uncountable” nouns. Thankfully, it’s actually quite simple: a countable noun refers to something you can, well, count. For example, think chairs, eggs, or cans.

On the other hand, an uncountable noun refers to something that is not quantifiable by number. For instance, if you get angry about something, can you count how many “angers” you have? Could you say that you have two or three angers? No, you would measure anger by how much it is, not by how many.

“Feedback” is an uncountable noun. You don’t say that you have “two feedbacks.” Instead, you would specify how much feedback you have. You may have “a lot of feedback” or “a little feedback.”

Feedback

According to Merriam-Webster, feedback is “the transmission of evaluative or corrective information about an action, event, or process to the original or controlling source.”

In other words, it’s evaluation provided to you by other people after you do or say something. Imagine that you make a movie, and you show it to your friends. Afterward, your friends tell you what they think about it. That’s feedback.

This is also when you would use it in a sentence: when referring to evaluative information provided to you by other people. Let’s take a look at a few examples of how to properly use it:

  • The cheers and claps of the crowd are positive feedback for the band that is playing.
  • I received some feedback on my performance from my theater teacher.
  • James received a few pieces of feedback from his coach and teammates after the game.
  • I would prefer to have negative feedback than no feedback at all.
  • A lot of positive and negative feedback will help us make this app the best it can be.

As you may have noticed in these sentences, feedback is never quantified by an exact number, though it is acceptable to describe feedback in a general sense of how much or little it is. You can say there is “a lot of” or “a little bit” of feedback, and you can even say “there are several pieces of” feedback.

But you can never say that you have a specific number of “feedbacks.” That will always be incorrect.

Feedbacks

OK, so “feedbacks” is not the correct plural form of feedback. But is there any situation in which it is appropriate to say “feedbacks?” It’s a little convoluted, but in short, no. You see, feedback is a mass noun, but it can also be used as a verb in some cases.

However, even as a verb, you wouldn’t say “feedbacks.” You would say that someone provides or gives feedback. Let’s look at some examples:

  • Incorrect: Jim feedbacks the performance of his coworker.
  • Correct: Jim provides feedback for the performance of his coworker.

There are ways to use feedback as a verb, but only as a past or present participle, such as in the following examples:

  • Past: The employees feedbacked their boss with a surprising amount of brevity and honesty.
  • Present: The role of feedbacking the committee’s plan for the festival fell to us today.

It is not objectively incorrect to use the word feedback in this manner. However, it is worth noting that that vast majority of people would find this to be unnatural, and would generally word these sentences in the following manner:

  • The employees provided feedback to their boss with a surprising amount of brevity and honesty.
  • The role of giving feedback on the committee’s plan for the festival falls to us today.

Regardless, there is no situation in which you would say “feedbacks,” be it as a verb or a noun.

Feedback Is or Feedback Are?

We’ve established the proper plural form of the word feedback, so we should probably talk about “is” and “are.” You probably already know that singular nouns should be followed up with “is” and plural nouns should be followed up with “are.” But is this true for a mass uncountable noun like feedback?

In most cases, you would say “feedback is.” This is because mass nouns are technically singular: there may be many things in a mass, but a mass is just one single thing. For instance, water is an uncountable mass noun as well, and you would always say “water is,” not “water are.” For example:

  • Correct: Feedback is very useful for determining how well we are doing.
  • Incorrect: Feedback are very useful for determining how well we are doing.

Likewise, feedback should be treated as a single noun when it comes to “have/has” and “this/these” as well.  It would always be “feedback has” and “this feedback.” Some examples are below:

  • Correct: This feedback has been very valuable to our process.
  • Incorrect: These feedback have been very valuable to our process.

There is only one situation where you would correctly say “feedback are,” and that is when “feedback” is one of several nouns in your sentence. For example:

  • Both money and feedback are crucial to our success.

It is acceptable to say “feedback are” in this case, but only because the sentence involves two nouns (money and feedback) and thus subject-verb agreement is correct in such a case.

Final Thoughts

The correct plural form of feedback is “feedback,” not feedbacks, because “feedback” is a mass uncountable noun, which is singular. It cannot be quantified by an objective number and is only estimated by how much or how little there is, so the plural form is always “feedback.”

martin lassen dam grammarhow

Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here.

I would use two words: ‘feed back’ (a compound verb), or I would insert a verb and say ‘provide feedback’ (noun + verb). In fact I would much prefer to avoid this ugly expression altogether and use a term such as ‘report back to’ or ‘report to’.

How do you write a good comment?

Top ten tips for writing a great comment

  1. Read the article. It sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many comments can be answered with the words “it says in the article”.
  2. Respond to the article. …
  3. Read the other comments.
  4. Make it clear who you’re replying to.
  5. Use the return key.
  6. Avoid sarcasm.
  7. Avoid unnecessary acronyms.
  8. Use facts.

How do you praise a piece of writing?

Tell the reader that you enjoyed or appreciated his or her work. State specifically what you liked about the reader’s work. Close by thanking the writer for his or her work.

How do you compliment a write up?

75 Compliments to Use When You Want to Say Something Nice

  1. 1 Your positivity is infectious.
  2. 2 You should be so proud of yourself.
  3. 3 You’re amazing!
  4. 4 You’re a true gift to the people in your life.
  5. 5 You’re an incredible friend.
  6. 6 I really appreciate everything that you do.
  7. 7 You inspire me to be a better person.

How do you write remarks for weak students?

Report card comments based on effort ___ always shows commitment to his/her learning, even when he/she finds the subject challenging. When ___ applies consistent effort, he/she produces work he/she can be proud of. I would like to see ___ apply consistent effort to his/her book work.

Can do better remarks for students?

Quality of Work

  • ______’s hand work is beautifully done.
  • ______ enjoys doing neat, careful work.
  • ______’s work is neatly and accurately done.
  • ______ does colorful and interesting art work.
  • ______ takes pride in work well done.
  • ______ makes careless errors.
  • ______ is disorganized.
  • ______ needs to proofread work.

How can teachers write remarks for students?

________ performs independent work with confidence and focus. ________ works independently and takes pride in work done well. ________ is focused in class and willingly participates in group discussion. ________ is very conscientious and shows excellent effort and care with daily work.

How do I give my students a remark?

5 Strategies for Simplifying Report Cards

  1. Employ the sandwich feedback technique: Always begin with a positive comment and end with a positive comment.
  2. Highlight areas of growth. Every student has areas of growth throughout the school year.
  3. Expand on areas of improvement.
  4. Be transparent.
  5. Proofread.

How do you praise students?

Fifty Ways to Praise Your Students

  1. Good.
  2. You’ve got it right.
  3. That’s right.
  4. Super.
  5. That’s good.
  6. You’re really working hard today.
  7. You are very good at that.
  8. That’s coming along nicely.

What is another word for praise highly?

1 acclamation, plaudit, applause, approbation, compliment. 2 encomium, eulogy, panegyric. 5 laud, applaud, eulogize. 6 glorify, exalt, honor.

How do you praise a good leader?

51 Compliments for Team Leader

  1. It’s amazing to see you manage a bazillion things in a short time.
  2. You are a great inspiration to the team.
  3. If every company has a team leader like you, there is nothing to stop them from achieving success.
  4. It is great to see your achievements in a short span of time.
  5. I am amazed by the work you do.

How do you praise a chairman?

Sentences

  1. The conference was a grand success!
  2. The seminar you organized for our company was superb.
  3. I was extremely impressed with the conference you chaired last month.
  4. Thank you for the outstanding work you did on the workshop last week.
  5. My colleagues and I applaud your work in making the convention a success.

What words describe a great leader?

Personality Traits

  • Self-motivated: Motivated leaders desire to achieve above and beyond expectations.
  • Standards: Leaders hold them selves and the people around them to a higher standard than most, both on a personal and professional level.
  • Confidence:
  • Optimism & Positivity:
  • Accountable:
  • Courage:
  • Engaged:
  • Character:

so just to reiterate what you have said and put it into direct use… (<—please correct me if I’m not suppose to use ‘it’ here)
If I have the word «advice» in a sentence, then should I say
» Could you give me an advice/feedback » No
OR
» Could you give me some advice/feedback» (despite both advice and feedback are singulars)
This one. When I said, «It’s always singular», I meant it’s never ‘feedbacks/advices». I should have said it’s a non-count noun, like ‘water’.
It’s «Give me some water», not «Give me a water» and not «Give me waters».
(‘Water’ can be plural, but not in its usual meaning.)
Also, does this mean that words like «suggestion» and «opinion» are non-countable nouns regardless of situation.
No, unfortunately it doesn’t mean that. You have to learn which ones are non-countable. There should be lists somewhere that you can search for —
«non-count nouns», «noncount», non-countable» etc.
Thanks again

Feedbacks” and feedback are two different spellings of the same word. They both mean more or less the same information about how to do something better or about someone’s reaction to what you’ve done so far.

In plenty of other words, you can use either spelling interchangeably, but the spelling you use may influence how your reader interprets your writing. Here’s how to properly employ them in sentences.

What is Feedbacks?

Feedbacks are basic information about reactions to a product, service, or system. This can be given directly from customers, users, or data collected through various methods.

It is used for more than one thing or time. It’s essential to get feedback early and often when creating something new so that you can course-correct and make improvements along the way.

What is Feedback?

Feedback is any information that is given about how someone is doing.

The purpose of feedback is to help the person receiving it improve their performance. It can be positive or negative, but it should always be specific.

Feedbacks Or Feedback?

It’s one of the most common questions I get. The answer is quite simple. Feedback is the noun form of the verb to feed, meaning to provide information that will be used to improve something.

Feedbacks is simply the plural form of feedback. So when you’re talking about more than one piece of feedback, you would use the plural form, feedbacks.

However, if you’re using the word as a verb (to provide information), it’s always spelled with an ‘f’ at the end.

As a result, some people mistakenly use the singular feedback when they mean to say feedback. That’s understandable, given how frequently we hear the term.

For example, I want your feedback on this could easily be interpreted as asking for just one comment on the item in question when what they meant was I want your comments on this.

Remember that we always spell feedback with an ‘f’ at the end when we use it as a verb. If you have more than one comment to offer on something, you should refer to them collectively as feedback.

How to use Feedback and Feedback both in a sentence?

Feedback is a noun meaning information or criticism given to someone to help them improve.

Feedbacks are the plural form of the word, used when multiple pieces of feedback are given. Feedback can also be used as a verb to give someone feedback.

As a verb, it is always written as one word. The same rule applies to the singular and plural forms of feedback: if you have more than one piece of feedback, then use feedback. If you only have one piece of feedback to give, then use feedback.

Uses of the word feedback and feedbacks

We often use the word feedback as a singular noun meaning comments or criticism about someone’s work. It’s usually given to help improve performance.

For example, your boss might give you feedback on your presentation skills.

When used as a plural noun, feedbacks means the electronic signals sent back from an amplifier to a loudspeaker. This usage is most common in technical contexts.

We can also use feedback as a verb to give someone comments or criticism about their work.

For example, you might give feedback to your employees on their customer service skills. You could also say I want to feedback on my thoughts when you want to share something with someone.

If you see feedback in a sentence without being able to tell if it’s singular or plural, try using the following formula: I’ve had lots of (singular) feed(back, backs).

If this sentence makes sense, the word should be interpreted as singular. If not, then it should be interpreted as plural.

However, it might still be worth double-checking the sentence. Sometimes people will make mistakes like I have so much feedback instead of so many comments.

There are two words here, but they sound the same and mean different things. Remember that one has two syllables and one has three syllables!

The proper noun feedback refers to giving critical commentary on a piece of writing or performance to help improve it; we usually call these critiques feedbacks.

The adjective feedback refers to reactions (often measured electronically) caused by sound vibrations produced by amplifiers feeding energy back into speakers; these reactions cause feedback.

Tips for knowing the difference between feedback and feedbacks, and some recommendations

1. If you’re referring to the act of giving feedback, use the singular form, feedback.

2. If you’re referring to multiple instances of feedback, use the plural form, feedbacks.

3. If you’re unsure whether to use feedback or feedback, try using the singular form first.

4. Remember that feedback is both a noun and a verb so it can be used in many different        ways.

5. For example, The team needs some constructive feedback on how they’ve been                  performing lately.

6. On the other hand, We need more customer feedback for this project because we don’t      have enough qualitative data. We need some quantitative data as well as qualitative            data for this project.

    This may be great news for us, but I think there will be more harmful than positive            feedback.

7. If someone else provides feedback about your work, take time to process what they say      and then decide if you want to make any changes.

8. You can also give feedback about their work by pointing out something specific that            doesn’t meet your expectations or standards.

9. It’s also important to listen carefully when someone gives you feedback about your            work, even if it’s not always favorable.

10. Try not to take criticism personally unless directed at who you are as a person instead        of just your work (and sometimes even then).

11. Constructive criticism is always best when trying to improve something. See what              people say and tell them how they’ve impacted your thoughts!

Concluding thoughts

 It looks like the jury is still out on which one is correct. However, feedback seems to be the more popular choice, so we’ll go with that. As long as you use it as a noun, you’re good to go!

Make sure you don’t mix up the verb (to provide feedback) and the noun (feedback). The word feedback is often used as both a noun and a verb, while to give feedback means to offer constructive criticism.

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This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.

This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.


noun

Electronics.

  1. the process of returning part of the output of a circuit, system, or device to the input, either to oppose the input (negative feedback ) or to aid the input (positive feedback ).
  2. acoustic feedback.

the furnishing of data concerning the operation or output of a machine to an automatic control device or to the machine itself, so that subsequent or ongoing operations of the machine can be altered or corrected.

a reaction or response to a particular process or activity: He got very little feedback from his speech.

evaluative information derived from such a reaction or response: to study the feedback from an audience survey.

Psychology. knowledge of the results of any behavior, considered as influencing or modifying further performance.Compare biofeedback.

Biology. a self-regulatory biological system, as in the synthesis of some hormones, in which the output or response affects the input, either positively or negatively.

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Which sentence is correct?

Origin of feedback

First recorded in 1915–20; noun use of verb phrase feed back

Words nearby feedback

feeb, feeble, feeble-minded, feed, Feed a cold; starve a fever, feedback, feedback loop, feed bag, feedbox, feeder, feeder line

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to feedback

assessment, comment, criticism, evaluation, observation, reaction, answer, comeback, rebuttal, reply, retaliation, sentiment

How to use feedback in a sentence

  • After the beta received positive feedback, the pair expanded to a full-scale operation.

  • And, at the moment, there seems to be no surefire way for Google to transform these signals into rankings, except to read the feedback of their quality raters before each algorithm update.

  • This will require you to ask visitors for feedback, experiment with different messaging options, and regularly review your analytics, among other things.

  • The tax base declines and the school system and civic services falter, creating a negative feedback loop that pushes more people to leave.

  • She said she’ll do that in part by making the community panels diverse and representative of the Oceanside community and listening to their feedback.

  • There was a lot of positive feedback from people interested in non-gender binary people.

  • Have you ever heard any feedback from the CIA/actual spies on Archer?

  • But then I thought about the feedback I get from fans, yes we do listen to you, and thought why not?

  • He says he has yet to experience any negative feedback from the galaxy of Whovians.

  • At the beginning there is a rumbling sound that seems to be feedback.

  • Then all they’ll do is buzz and sputter until the feedback is broken with the key.

  • Before we leave, we throw the machines into feedback, every one of them.

  • The trouble with the Ditmars-Horst reactor was that it lacked any automatic negative-feedback system.

  • «Just a little feedback in the right place—» murmured Paul absently.

  • These feedback pulses we’ve isolated are nothing but stabs of pure emotion.

British Dictionary definitions for feedback


noun

  1. the return of part of the output of an electronic circuit, device, or mechanical system to its input, so modifying its characteristics. In negative feedback a rise in output energy reduces the input energy; in positive feedback an increase in output energy reinforces the input energy
  2. that part of the output signal fed back into the input

the return of part of the sound output by a loudspeaker to the microphone or pick-up so that a high-pitched whistle is produced

the whistling noise so produced

  1. the effect of the product of a biological pathway on the rate of an earlier step in that pathway
  2. the substance or reaction causing such an effect, such as the release of a hormone in a biochemical pathway

information in response to an inquiry, experiment, etcthere was little feedback from our questionnaire

verb, adverb feed back

(tr) to return (part of the output of a system) to its input

to offer or suggest (information, ideas, etc) in reaction to an inquiry, experiment, etc

Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for feedback


The supply of an input to some process or system as a function of its output. See more at negative feedback positive feedback.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for feedback


A process in which a system regulates itself by monitoring its own output. That is, it “feeds back” part of its output to itself. Feedback is used to control machines; a heating system, for example, uses a thermostat to monitor and adjust its output. Feedback is also used by the human brain to control various muscles and joints.

notes for feedback

By extension, “feedback” is any response or information about the result of a process.

notes for feedback

Feedback is usually a feature of automation.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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