Plurals

Sorry for the prolific posting. I swear I look for these things in the documentation.

Can I do something like this?

Understand "treasures" as one or more of the red treasure, the blue treasure, the brass treasure, etc.

I had an idea, but it might be inelegant, even if I can get it working, which I can’t.

Treasures is backdrop. Treasures is everywhere.

Instead of doing something to treasures:
try doing the action to the green treasure;
try doing the action to the red treasure;
[etc].

The answer depends on how you’ve definded these items – as individual things or as a member of a “treasure” kind. For the former:The Lab is a room. The red treasure, the blue treasure, and the brass treasure are in the Lab. Understand "treasures" as the plural of red treasure. Understand "treasures" as the plural of blue treasure. Understand "treasures" as the plural of brass treasure.… and the latter:The Lab is a room. A treasure is a kind of thing. The red treasure, the blue treasure, and the brass treasure are treasures in the Lab. Understand "treasure" as a treasure. Understand "treasures" as the plural of treasure.
(See ch. 16.8. Understanding names.)

I wouldn’t do this. I’ve tried (and seen others try) to use backdrops in this manner and what usually results is really messy code that doesn’t end up working right anyway. Backdrops are great for many things, but IMO this kind of parser trick isn’t one of them.

Perfect. I’m so glad I defined treasures as a kind. The 2nd snippet worked. It’s becoming more obvious all the time why “kinds” are useful.

The 1st snippet is intriguing. It doesn’t read like it will take all three treasures when you say “take treasures” but I see that it does. I think that might have even crossed my mind but seemed unlikely. This is good to know too.

Thanks Mike!