When to use copy versus copies when providing a list of documents

Question

Please tell me which of these is correct:

1. Enclosed please find copies of three Explanations of Benefits OR Enclosed please find a copy of three Explanations of Benefits.

The same question applies in the scenario:

Enclosed please find copies of the following documents:

1. Letter dated April 12, 2022; and
2. Letter dated April 22, 2022. OR

Enclosed please find a copy of the following documents:

1 Letter dated April 12, 2022; and

2 Letter dated April 22, 2022.

Please help! I'm only sending one copy of each item so should it be singular? That doesn't sound right to me.

Answer 1

Hi Michelle,

Yes, copy is singular whereas "copies" is plural.

You would make copies (plural) of the documents (whether they were organized into separate sheets of paper or as part of one entire packet) if you needed to give more than one person a copy of the given material, separately or together quantitatively speaking.

You would make a copy (singular) of the documents if a total of only one person needed to read them. Or, if one person was going to share their one copy with other people without them each needing their own copies of the material, then you would only need to make one single copy accordingly.