Snow

[Tom Zurinskas]

> CBS News reported this evening that "13 inches of snow are expected in
> New York."  "is" or "are"?

Technically the word "inches" is plural so "are" would appear right.  But what's going on here?  What is meant is that "A *total* of 13 inches is expected", because it's really a total expectation.  "Total" is a hidden subject.

If they said "an inch of snow is expected," even a total of 13 is expected, they would also be right.  The point is that they are giving a total.  So the implication is "total".

Now if they said "At least 13 inches of snow is/are expected" that would not be a total.  But somehow the same thinking applies because inches have no identity unlike apples.  You would say 13 apples are in the basket, but also a collection of 13 apples are in the basket.

Inches is a measure and I think intuitively a collection.  I don't think one would say "13 inches are at least what you're going to get."  I think one would say "13 inches is at least what you're going to get."

Anyway, I think I'd say "is" instead of "are" in my own speech here.  Goes to when a collective noun is understood though not spoken.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
see truespel.com













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> Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 08:30:39 -0500
> From: hwgray at GMAIL.COM
> Subject: Re: Snow
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: Snow
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I learned a totally-straightforward, easily-remembered rule
>
> _The_ number _is_
>
> _A_ number _are_
>
> easily extrapolated to similar cases.
>
> Of course, given that several such easily-remembered prescriptive
> rules have been lost over the past half-century, including at least
> one rule so "crystal-clear" and "obvious" that there was never any
> reason to make mention of a rule governing it:
>
> _never to VP / not to VP_
>
> which has shifted to
>
> _to never VP /to not VP_
>
> possibly a quarter-century or even more ago, you never know. Like,
> I've just heard a guy say on local news that "February is going out
> like a lion" instead of that "March is coming in like a lion."
>
> Me myself, I have never felt any connection between these types of
> strings and the prescriptive rule never to split an infinitive, since,
> in my childhood and youth, though, of course, people said things like
>
> decided to really try hard
>
> all of the time, no one that I ever heard speak said
>
> decided to not (really) try hard
> decided to (really) not try hard.
>
> -Wilson
> –––
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
> -Mark Twain
>
>
>
> On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 10:48 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender: Â Â Â American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Â Â Â Laurence Horn
>> Subject: Â Â Â Re: Snow
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> At 10:25 PM -0500 3/1/09, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>>The object of a preposition cannot be the subject of a sentence. So
>>>"inches," not "snow," is (not "are") the subject, and "are" (not "is") is
>>>correct.
>>>
>>>JL
>>
>> So "A lot of people was in the room"? Â "A number of objections was raised"?
>>
>> Some historical prep. objects are now heads, e.g. [A lot of][people].
>> "A number of X" works that way for most (all?) speakers too. Â I could
>> go either way with "13 inches of snow": "snow" as head noun with "13
>> inches of" as quantifier (as with "a lot of") or "inches" as head
>> with "of snow" as prepositional phrase; I'd get "is" and "are"
>> respectively.
>>
>> LH
>>
>>>
>>>On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 7:51 PM, Bill Palmer wrote:
>>>
>>>> Â ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>> Â -----------------------
>>>> Â Sender: Â Â Â American Dialect Society
>>>> Â Poster: Â Â Â Bill Palmer
>>>> Â Subject: Â Â Â Snow
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> Â Bianca Solorzano of CBS News reported this evening that "13 inches of snow
>>>> Â are expected in New York."
>>>>
>>>> Â The expectations are for what: inches or snow?
>>>>
>>>> Â "Is" or "are"?
>>>>
>>>> Â What does the academy say?
>>>>
>>>> Â Bill Palmer
>>>>
>>>> Â ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> Â The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>
>>>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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