Erin Posted August 19, 2002 Share Posted August 19, 2002 (edited) One of the most common questions is something like this: Do I say: "Most of the people is/are...?" "Most of the water is/are...?" Here's the rule: quantifier + of + NOUN + verb The NOUN determines whether the verb is singular or plural. For example: Most of the people is/are... because the quantifier "most" refers to "people," (a plural noun) so "most" is plural in this sentence. Most of the water is/are... because the quantifier "most" refers to "water," (a non-count noun) so "most" is plural in this sentence. So, from these examples, you should notice that we are looking mainly at whether the object of the preposition is count or non-count because the quantifier will take on this property from the object of the preposition. In other words, in these sentences: Most of the people are... "Most" becomes a count noun because "people" is a count noun. Most of the water is... "Most" becomes a non-count noun because "water" is a non-count noun. So, this rule tells us only whether the quantifier is count or non-count. To figure out whether the quantifier is singular or plural, we need to check one more thing... Sometimes, a quantifier refers only to one thing, not many things. For example, each, every, and one always refer to one thing, but 10%, half, all, and most would refer to more than one thing if the object of the preposition is count (with one possible exception that I will show you in a second). Of course, if the quantifier is always singular, then the verb must always be singular, too. (Let's not forget our common sense in grammar, okay?? :D ) For example, we say: One of the people is... Each of the students is... Of course, when I first wrote out these rules, I imagined a situation like this: 1% of the 100 people is/are... because, of course, 1% of 100 is one, and that's singular, right? And there's invariably some student in my class who will try to find an exception (that's what I do in class, too. My teachers hated it. :cool: ) Anyway, I think most people would say that this is simply a bad sentence and should be rewritten. This sentence I've shown you is more of a grammar puzzle than a real sentence. But I know that somebody out there will want to know the "answer." Well, you can't go wrong if you write it in the singular, can you? See this topic for a list of quantifiers: List of quantifers Edited October 4, 2011 by Erin Made it pretty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffq Posted August 20, 2002 Share Posted August 20, 2002 This rule doesn't apply to singular quantifiers... correct? e.g. One of the cars was sold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted August 20, 2002 Author Share Posted August 20, 2002 Yes, of course. I have added a bit more information to cover the question you've asked. Erin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffq Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 Sorry, Erin but I'm still having some problems with quantifiers. Kaplan said these are correct: A scant of news reports has shown ...... A series of UFO sightings has created a ..... I assumed these were plural. Are these sentences correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted September 11, 2002 Author Share Posted September 11, 2002 Originally posted by jeffq Sorry, Erin but I'm still having some problems with quantifiers. Kaplan said these are correct: A scant of news reports has shown ...... A series of UFO sightings has created a ..... I assumed these were plural. Are these sentences correct? If we're using nouns that refer to groups, then we simply look at the noun to figure it out. So yes, these are singular (although I would never say "a scant of" anything!) The big exception to this one is a number of people are..., which is plural. Anyway, if you're still confused, I can add some info here, just let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vvaann Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 The big exception to this one is a number of people are..., which is plural. I'm concluding: "a number of ..." always takes plural verbs. "the number of ..." always takes singular verbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk Posted July 23, 2003 Share Posted July 23, 2003 Most of the people is/are... because the quantifier "most" refers to "people," (a plural noun) so "most" is plural in this sentence. Most of the water is/are... because the quantifier "most" refers to "water," (a non-count noun) so "most" is plural in this sentence. ----------------------------------------------------------------- You are saying "most" is plural in the above sentence? But the verb we are using for the corresponding example is singular i.e. Most of the water is/are... I am confused, shouldn't "most" in this case be "singular"? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted July 23, 2003 Author Share Posted July 23, 2003 Originally posted by uk Most of the people is/are... because the quantifier "most" refers to "people," (a plural noun) so "most" is plural in this sentence. Most of the water is/are... because the quantifier "most" refers to "water," (a non-count noun) so "most" is plural in this sentence.This part is correct. Great, in fact! :) Originally posted by uk ----------------------------------------------------------------- You are saying "most" is plural in the above sentence? But the verb we are using for the corresponding example is singular i.e. Most of the water is/are... I am confused, shouldn't "most" in this case be "singular"? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Not sure what you're asking here... ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippo Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 Hello Erin, Could you confirm if I've understood your explanations right? The following sentence is from the TOEFL grammer section: An amazing variety of animals, by means of elaborate adaptators, are able to thrive in conditions of extreme head and dryness. As far I as anderstand "A variety" should be followed with the singular verb "is" instead of "are", or it behaves like "a number of"? Here is the original discussion: http://www.TestMagic.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5764 Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bullsandbears123 Posted February 10, 2004 Share Posted February 10, 2004 Here's the rule: quantifier + of + NOUN + verb The NOUN determines whether the verb is singular or plural. For example: Most of the people is/are... because the quantifier "most" refers to "people," (a plural noun) so "most" is plural in this sentence. Most of the water is/are... because the quantifier "most" refers to "water," (a non-count noun) so "most" is plural in this sentence. So, from these examples, you should notice that we are looking mainly at whether the object of the preposition is count or non-count because the quantifier will take on this property from the object of the preposition. In other words, in these sentences: Most of the people are... "Most" becomes a count noun because "people" is a count noun. Most of the water is... "Most" becomes a non-count noun because "water" is a non-count noun. So, this rule tells us only whether the quantifier is count or non-count. To figure out whether the quantifier is singular or plural, we need to check one more thing... What is the "one more thing"? Please confirm my thoughts. "because the quantifier "most" refers to "water," (a non-count noun) so "most" is plural in this sentence." Is this correct? I thought this was correct, but I may be wrong... "because the quantifier "most" refers to "water," (a non-count noun) so "most" is singular in this sentence." Please confirm my thoughts..... if the modifier is a (noncount noun) then the verb should be singular and if the modifier is a (count noun) then the verb should be plural UNLESS, the modifier refers only to one thing, such as each, every, and one. :shy: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shilpadhawan84 Posted July 22, 2005 Share Posted July 22, 2005 erin the exception which u gave that A NUMBER OF PEOPLE ARE........ THATS NOT an exception .there is a rule after this. whenever there is A NUMBER its pural so we have used ARE and whenever there is THE NUMBER its singular so we will use IS thats just the matter osf singular and plural ,no exception please tell me if i am wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eXaMsTaR Posted September 11, 2005 Share Posted September 11, 2005 thanks for the knowledge friends Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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