Search results for 'tag:Plurals tag:Numbers' matching tags 'Plurals' and 'Numbers'

Re: Was or Were?

Huevos — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:40:27 GMT

innamuris
'a number of people' is considered plural.

By whom? A number is grammatically singular. My point was common sense should prevail over grammatical "rules". Rather than try to ascertain if something is singular or plural grammatically we should do it by feel on a case by case basis.

Re: Was or Were?

innamuris — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:24:05 GMT

'a number of people' is considered plural. so we say 'a number of people are..'

Re: Subject-verb agreement?

Avangi — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:20:00 GMT

Hi rguy, Welcome to the forums! Thanks for joining us.

The number of the verb (plural) is correct. There are two subjects, fulfillment and hunger. If you remove the modifier "in spite of his efforts to avoid prophethood," you'll see it, I'm sure.

Best wishes, - A.

Re: phrasing a question. "the 29th Olympics"

Clive — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:13:58 GMT

Hi,
Welcome to the Forum.

How would you phrase a question to derive the answer in the title? How should I structure the question to get the answer, "it was the 29th Olympics." I've assumed in my comments that you want these exact words.

"Which Summer Olympics were this year's Olympics?"

^^is how I would ask... but I'm not so certain. One could answer like.. "it was the Beijing Olympics."

1. We often refer to the Olympics as a plural, I guess because the full phrase is 'The Olympic Games'. But let's not focus on that here.

2. Note that people would normally ask such a question in a different way, eg.

How many summer Olympic Games have there been in the modern era? To which the answer would be '29'.

3. To force a specific answer with the exact words you want is pretty hard. My first thought would be to say something that makes the speaker think in terms of ordinal numbers,
eg Was the last summer Olympic Games the 28th.? Even here, you will typically get a short answer, like 'No, the 29th.'

You need to force the speaker to use 'Olympics' in his answer.

Perhaps you might ask 'Was the sports event in Beijing this summer the 28th. Pan-Asian games?' If you are lucky, you will get the answer you want, ie 'No, it was the 29th. Olympics'. But you also might not get 'It was', just 'No, the 29th. Olympics'.

As you can see, the natural answer often avoids repeating words like 'was' and 'Olympics' if they are in the question. That makes your task difficult.

Best wishes, Clive

sentence questions

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 06:02:15 GMT

Hi, Please take a look at these sentences (one is partially given) and tell me why that is.

1. The policy, which has given rise a number of opinions, confusion, and concerns, is now ...

I feel uncomfortable seeing the word 'confusion' after the phrase 'a number of' because it seems to modify the word 'confusion' and having 'a number of confusion' doesn't sound right. Right? I also feel there should be the preposition 'to' after the word 'rise'. What do you say?

2. ... will be reflected in the direction and particulars of this governement policy. -- I wonder why a singular word, direction. Could we make it the plural 'directions'?

Re: Sentence dilemma

yizhivika — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:21:47 GMT

Hi,

To be honest, I think both of the sentences are sloppily written, particularly the first of them.

The conference has been involved in controversy for over a year before the first president arrived.

As a native English-speaker, I have to search around for a meaning for it. Perhaps it means this:

The conference has been involved in controversy for over a year, ever since ~~before~~ the ~~first~~ president first arrived.

Then again, perhaps it means something else. Who knows?

The number one way I like to spend my time is with my family and work.

You could say "My favourite ways of spending my time are with my family and at work [or 'working' instead of 'at work']."

..then you wouldn't have to agonise over whether 'way' should be singular or plural!

If you do want to use 'number one way(s)', then I guess you could make it plural, if the two activities are in joint first place...

Re: Which one is correct

Mister Micawber — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:04:07 GMT

.
pair: noun, plural 'pairs', 'pair'.

When used without a modifier, 'pairs' is the only possible plural: Pairs of skaters glided over the ice. When modified by a number, 'pairs' is the more common form, especially referring to persons: Six pairs of masked dancers led the procession. The unmarked plural 'pair' is used mainly in reference to inanimate objects or nonhumans: He has three pair (or pairs) of loafers. Two pair (or pairs) of barn owls have nested on our property.
'Pair' signifying two individuals can take either a singular or plural verb, but it is usually followed by a plural verb and referred to by a plural pronoun: The guilty pair have not been seen since their escape. (Random House Dict)

Re: singular / plural

Cool Breeze — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:16:59 GMT

Goodman
<<<<and "most grammarians accept "there was/were a television, a radio, a sofa and a table" >>> I guess I am not a grammarian.
I personally won't say "there were a television.."

No, I didn't think you would. To a grammarian, there is more to it than the next word. There are at least three views on this.

1. The rule of proximity: The first word after the verb is singular (a television), so a singular verb (was) can/should be used.

2. The rule of number: If only one thing is mentioned, use a singular verb (was); if more things are mentioned, use a plural verb (were). I remember a British graduate of Oxford University who lectured on English Philology at Helsinki University and was an enthusiastic proponent of this rule. He considered was wrong in cases like this. Similarly, he considered media is and algae is always wrong as well. I use the past tense because he is no longer alive.

3. Liberal grammarians, who don't really care which one of the above rules is applied. (As I said, I'm one of them!)

Re: Enjoy+v-ing /noun and Like+v-ing/noun

CalifJim — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:51:57 GMT

With Do you like ...? you are normally asking about a habitual activity. A plural object is commonly used if the object is countable. You can usually add from time to time or a similar adverbial phrase without contradicting the meaning or changing the meaning significantly. With activities the infinitive and the gerund have the same meaning, but with the infinitive the focus includes making the effort to undertake the activity while with the gerund the focus is almost entirely on participating in the activity.

Do you like to read mystery stories? Do you like to watch birds? Do you like to make cakes?

Do you like [reading mystery stories / watching birds / making cakes]? (Same meanings as above.)

Do you like [to read / reading] mystery stories from time to time? (Same meaning as above.)

Do you like [to watch / watching] birds once in a while? (Same meaning as above.)

Do you like [to make / making] cakes occasionally? (Same meaning as above.)

_____

Do you like [to win / winning] the prize? doesn't seem appropriate whereas Do you like [to win / winning] prizes? does.

With intransitive verbs:

Do you like [to go / going] to the library? = Do you like [to go / going] to the library from time to time?

Do you like [to walk / walking] in the park? = Do you like [to walk / walking] in the park occasionally?

_____

The slight difference in focus is as follows:

Do you like to read mystery stories? ~ Do you like to try to find mystery stories to buy or borrow, to buy them, or to borrow them, and to read them?

Do you like reading mystery stories? ~ Do you like sitting in a chair with a mystery story in your hand, turning the pages, and reading it?

Do you like to walk in the park? ~ Do you like to check the weather to see if it's suitable for walking in the park, to get dressed in suitable clothes for walking in the park, to drive to the park, and to do the walk and return home?

Do you like walking in the park? ~ Do you like being in the park, moving your legs, getting the exercise, enjoying the trees, flowers, and birds, seeing others walking as you walk in the park?

_____

If you're not describing an activity, the infinitive might not be so appropriate.

Do you like to study in the USA? ~ You go to the USA from time to time in order to study. Do you like that?

Do you like studying in the USA? ~ You are currently studying in the USA or you have spent time studying in the USA. Do you like that?

To my ear, the second is the more natural question for this situation.

_____

In general, when the situation described cannot or is not normally done "from time to time", but only once, or only a limited number of times, Do you like ...? doesn't work, and the infinitive is especially inappropriate. For example, it is not appropriate to ask Do you like to get married? (And it would be unusual to ask Do you like getting married? as well.)

_____

When in doubt, use the -ing form. It is generally more suitable for a larger number of situations.

Re: plurals

Philip — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:18:44 GMT

I don't work in the field, but I believe the accepted jargon includes income and profit(s). Figures is usually in the plural, because the income is made up a a series of figures (numbers).