The plural is more common when we are just talking about the things contained, " The contents of the box ", " table of contents ", etc . You are probably confused because it can function as both a countable noun and an uncountable noun, depending on usage.
22.
In my family we have several made-up words for these things, for instance " krones " and " wallygoggles ", but I am searching for a word ( more precisely, a countable noun ) that would be generally understood, or at least capable of being looked up in a dictionary.
23.
"Some " can also be used with singular countable nouns, as in " There is some person on the porch ", which implies that the identity of the person is unknown to the speaker ( which is not necessarily the case when " a ( n ) " is used ).
24.
It's the same as with many other features of English, such as the perfectly standard practice of applying " less " to countable nouns . ( E . g . " less words ", as in : " Swa mid l�s worda swa mid ma, sw��er we hit ereccan ma on . " Alfred the Great, 9th century . ) The best solution is to ignore the pedants and follow the lead of the best writers.
