Is the sentence structure right?

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Goodman

#510584 Tue, 06 May 08 11:51 PM

^{From my Googling, I entered a quoted search “20% of the population”. Then I randomly selected}

^{these articles and the result was nearly 50/50 with singular and plural verb agreement.}

^{Uganda, Abstinence and the Spread of HIV : NPR}

^{Aug 14, 2006 ... In Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, more than 20 percent of the adult population is infected. -- South Africa (along with India) ...}

^{WPJ Fall 2004 - Political Islam: Image and Reality by Mohammed Ayoob}

^{In South Africa, about 5 million people— 20 percent of the adult population—are thought to be infected with HIV. Adult infection rates for South Africa’s ...}

^{Taiwan is a hyperendemic area where 15 percent to 20 percent of the adult population carries HBV. A massive vaccination program was initiated in Taiwan in ...}

^{File Format:}^{PDF/Adobe Acrobat -},,'html','27','')" href="http://74.125.39.104/search?q=cache:JP4xFmQDmWgJ:www.ed.gov/pubs/HowAdultsLearn/Sohlman.pdf+%2220+percent+of+the+adult+population%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=27&gl=us">^{View as HTML}
^{More than 20 percent of the adult population}^{participates in one or several study. circles (Rubenson 1996). The results from the IALS study illustrate some ...}

^{Any experts like to give it a stab?}

Goodman

Joined on Mon, Nov 7 2005

Calif. USA

Senior Member (3,192)

The name says it all!

Articles, Verbs, Plurals, Sentence structures

Yoong Liat

#510655 Wed, 07 May 08 06:27 AM

Hi Goodman

If you had followed the thread closely, you would have noticed the following. In other words a guru has replied to the question. I agree with Barbara because she has a good command of English, and I've read about this usage before.

Creativeguru asked:

Only 5% of our students are placed after completion of their training! Because 95% are placed before

completion of the training.

Grammar Geek replied: It's okay, but starting the second sentence with a "Because" makes it informal."

^In^{South Africa}^{, about 5 million people— 20 percent of the adult population—are thought to be infected with HIV. Adult infection rates for}^{South Africa}^{’s ...}

Here the pertinent word is 'people'. Therefore 'are' should be used. It has nothing to do with the word 'population'.

^In^{South Africa}^{, about 5 million people (20 percent of the adult population) are thought to be infected with HIV. Adult infection rates for}^{South Africa}^{’s ...}

^{Percentages usually take a plural verb if the related noun (whether stated or implied) is in the plural: Ten per cent or the samples were substandard.}

^{Even one per cent tends to take a plural verb: One per cent of the samples were substandard.}

^{(The Rigtht Word at the Right Time)}

Yoong Liat

Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006

Singapore

Veteran Member (6,006)

Yoong Liat

Grammar, Verbs, Plurals, Nouns, Sentence structures

Creativeguru

#510671 Wed, 07 May 08 07:23 AM

At the end of the day what is appropriate word that should replay 'because in the original sentence' kindly let me know

Creativeguru

Joined on Fri, Feb 8 2008

India

Regular Member (733)

Sentence structures

Yoong Liat

#510770 Wed, 07 May 08 12:21 PM

Hi Creativeguru

Only 5% of our students are placed after completion of their training because 95% are placed before completion of the training.

Your sentences should be joined as shown above.

Yoong Liat

Sentence structures

Creativeguru

#510782 Wed, 07 May 08 12:43 PM

Thanks a lot Yoong Liat

Creativeguru

Sentence structures

Grammar Geek

#510803 Wed, 07 May 08 01:33 PM

However, it seems you wanted to create a surprise for the reader.

"What? Only 5%? That's terrible!" ... and then... "Oh! I see! 95% before they ever graduate. Well, that's different! What a wonderful program that must be."

This is lost when you join them. Joined, it sounds like the answer to the question "Why are only 5% of your students placed after graduation?" "Only 5% are placed after graduation because the other 95% are placed before graduation."

You can avoid the informality of starting with "Because" by replacing it with a dummy subject: That's because ...

(And YL, I do appreciate your confidence, but I certainly have missed things in the past! However, given the length of this thread, I would have come back to correct by error well before now if I felt that the verb had been incorrect. I agree with you on the verb - 5% of the students are..., 95% of the students are...)

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,567)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Verbs, Sentence structures

1 2 3

Is the sentence structure right?

Uganda, Abstinence and the Spread of HIV : NPR

Aug 14, 2006 ... In Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, more than 20 percent of the adult population is infected. -- South Africa (along with India) ...

WPJ Fall 2004 - Political Islam: Image and Reality by Mohammed Ayoob

In South Africa, about 5 million people— 20 percent of the adult population—are thought to be infected with HIV. Adult infection rates for South Africa’s ...

Here the pertinent word is 'people'. Therefore 'are' should be used. It has nothing to do with the word 'population'.

In South Africa, about 5 million people (20 percent of the adult population) are thought to be infected with HIV. Adult infection rates for South Africa’s ...

Percentages usually take a plural verb if the related noun (whether stated or implied) is in the plural: Ten per cent or the samples were substandard.

Even one per cent tends to take a plural verb: One per cent of the samples were substandard.

(The Rigtht Word at the Right Time)

^{Uganda, Abstinence and the Spread of HIV : NPR}

^{Aug 14, 2006 ... In Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, more than 20 percent of the adult population is infected. -- South Africa (along with India) ...}

^{WPJ Fall 2004 - Political Islam: Image and Reality by Mohammed Ayoob}

^{In South Africa, about 5 million people— 20 percent of the adult population—are thought to be infected with HIV. Adult infection rates for South Africa’s ...}

^In^{South Africa}^{, about 5 million people (20 percent of the adult population) are thought to be infected with HIV. Adult infection rates for}^{South Africa}^{’s ...}

^{Percentages usually take a plural verb if the related noun (whether stated or implied) is in the plural: Ten per cent or the samples were substandard.}

^{Even one per cent tends to take a plural verb: One per cent of the samples were substandard.}

^{(The Rigtht Word at the Right Time)}