majority + singular or plural

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Anonymous

#450350 Thu, 06 Dec 07 02:18 PM

Dear teachers,

I read that:

"the number" is a singular collective noun. "The number of applicants is steadily increasing."

"A number," on the other hand, is a plural form: "There are several students in the lobby. A number (of people) are here to see the president."

What about "the majority"? Should I apply the same rule? Would you please tell me which is correct?

a) A majority of people want him to be elected.

b) The majority of people wants him to be elected.

c) The majority of judges is in your favour.
d) The majority of the judges is/are (?) in your favour.

How about:

e) The staff was relieved when the students obeyed the new rule. (collective noun?)

f) The staff have gone home. (many individuals?)

Many thanks,

Hela

Anonymous

Plurals, Nouns, Numbers

Kooyeen

#450454 Thu, 06 Dec 07 08:47 PM

Hi Hela,
did you try to look for some info in older threads? That's a "common" question.

A/The majority of is plural.
The majority (of people) don't know their PC might already be a zombie.

Here's the search:
http://www.englishforums.com/search/majority.htm

Smile [:)]

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (3,838)

If you don't have a sense of humor already, it's about time you buy one.

Plurals

Liveinjapan

#450576 Fri, 07 Dec 07 04:29 AM

Hi everyone

I sometimes see someone drop the article before 'majority' like 'more than two-third majority'.

Is dropping an article fine?

LiJ

Liveinjapan

Joined on Sun, Feb 4 2007

Osaka, Japan

Contributing Member (1,549)

Please feel free to correct any words I wrote.LiJ

Articles

Yoong Liat

#451344 Sun, 09 Dec 07 04:25 PM

Liveinjapan wrote:

Hi everyone

I sometimes see someone drop the article before 'majority' like 'more than two-third majority'.

Is dropping an article fine?

LiJ

It's ok to drop the article in your sentence.

Yoong Liat

Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006

Singapore

Veteran Member (5,874)

Yoong Liat

Articles

Clive

#451404 Sun, 09 Dec 07 08:58 PM

Hi,

I sometimes see someone drop the article before 'majority' like 'more than two-third majority'.

Is dropping an article fine? I can't think of a sentence where you could say this without an article. Can anyone suggest one?

It should be phrased as 'two-thirds'.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive

Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004

Canada

Veteran Member (20,484)

El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

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Liveinjapan

#451469 Mon, 10 Dec 07 01:15 AM

Clive wrote:

Hi,

I sometimes see someone drop the article before 'majority' like 'more than two-third majority'.

Is dropping an article fine? I can't think of a sentence where you could say this without an article. Can anyone suggest one?

It should be phrased as 'two-thirds'.

Best wishes, Clive

Hi Clive. You are right.

I found the words in the website which is very popular in Japan and said to be read by so many foreigners in Japan. I emailed the sysop and recieved the answer of my question. They adimitted the mistake saying 'That should be 'a two-thirds majority'. Even the cleverest person sometimes makes a mistake.

Liveinjapan

Articles

Yoong Liat

#451552 Mon, 10 Dec 07 07:55 AM

Liveinjapan wrote:
Clive wrote:

I found the words in the website which is very popular in Japan and said to be read by so many foreigners in Japan. I emailed the sysop and recieved the answer of my question. They adimitted the mistake saying 'That should be 'a two-thirds majority'. Even the cleverest person sometimes makes a mistake.

I found the words in the website which is very popular in Japan and said to be read by so many foreigners in Japan. I emailed the sysop and received the answer to my question. They admitted (typo?) the mistake, saying 'That should be 'a two-thirds majority'. Even the cleverest person sometimes makes a mistake.

Yoong Liat

Liveinjapan

#451554 Mon, 10 Dec 07 08:06 AM

Yoong Liat wrote:
Liveinjapan wrote:
Clive wrote:

I found the words in the website which is very popular in Japan and said to be read by so many foreigners in Japan. I emailed the sysop and recieved the answer of my question. They adimitted the mistake saying 'That should be 'a two-thirds majority'. Even the cleverest person sometimes makes a mistake.

I found the words in the website which is very popular in Japan and said to be read by so many foreigners in Japan. I emailed the sysop and received the answer to my question. They admitted (typo?) the mistake, saying 'That should be 'a two-thirds majority'. Even the cleverest person sometimes makes a mistake.

These are very helpful. Thank you, Yoong.

By the way, is Yoong your first name? You know, we have the order of family-name-then-first-name for Japanese names, although we write the first name first when writing it in English. Is it okay to know the style in Sngapore?

Many thanks
LiJ

Liveinjapan

Yoong Liat

#451555 Mon, 10 Dec 07 08:12 AM

The following, extracted from The Oxford School A-Z of English, is for the information of members.

The majority is most people or things. The word can be used with a singular or a plural verb: Some people are happy with the rule, but the majority wants or want it changed. Both wants and want are acceptable here. However, wants does sound rather stiff and formal. Most peope would prefer want. And when majority is followed by a plural noun (as in the majority of people), it's much better to use a plural verb: The majority of people want a change.

The majority of can simply be a long-winded way of saying 'most'. Don't overdo it.

Yoong Liat

Verbs, Plurals, Nouns

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