[Ads-l] An illustration of the "new syntax"

[Benjamin Barrett]

This is a complex word. http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/singular_plural_number.htm <http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/singular_plural_number.htm> provides some examples.

I personally get confused about “plurality” (as in “a plurality of elements”) because I usually see it in the predicate, and on the rare occasion where I have to use it as the subject, I have trouble figuring out whether it’s singular or plural.

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA

Learn Ainu! http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/singular_plural_number.htm


> On 5 Sep 2015, at 10:47, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> The number of the nominal nearest to the left of the verb governs the
> number of the verb.
> 
> From an NYT MyAlert:
> 
> "The number of
> _predators do_
> not increase as rapidly as the number of
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _prey does_."
> 
> The number of the subject no longer matters. Things ain't what they used to
> be.


------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org