Author Topic: PLURAL OF NOUNS  (Read 12024 times)

tonybau

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PLURAL OF NOUNS
« on: May 20, 2009, 04:42:07 PM »
Hi,

Which one is correct?

     "The plural of nouns are formed in a number of different ways." or,

     "The plural of nouns is formed in a number of different ways." or, could you say,

     "The plurals of nouns are formed in a number of different ways."

The first is a direct quote from a book entitled Master English Grammar in 28 days.





« Last Edit: May 20, 2009, 04:45:00 PM by tonybau »

Joe Carillo

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Re: PLURAL OF NOUNS
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2009, 06:53:01 PM »
Hi,

Which one is correct?

     "The plural of nouns are formed in a number of different ways." or,

     "The plural of nouns is formed in a number of different ways." or, could you say,

     "The plurals of nouns are formed in a number of different ways."

The first is a direct quote from a book entitled Master English Grammar in 28 days.


The first sentence, “The plural of nouns are formed in a number of different ways,” is grammatically incorrect. The operative subject of the sentence is the singular noun “plural,” not the plural noun “nouns,” so the operative verb should be the singular form “is” and not the plural form “are.” The second sentence, “The plural of nouns is formed in a number of different ways,” is therefore the correct construction. The third sentence, “The plurals of nouns are formed in a number of different ways,” is likewise correct because the plural-form verb “are” agrees in number with the operative noun “plurals,” which is itself plural in form.

The basic English grammar rule that applies here is, of course, that the verb should always agree in number with its subject; that is, the verb should be in its singular form when the subject is singular, and should be in its plural form when the subject is plural. Quite often, though, this rule gets violated when the operative verb of a sentence gets detached from its subject—and the farther it gets detached, the more difficult it becomes to figure out whether the singular or plural form of the verb should be used.

This is what happened in that grammatically flawed sentence from Master English Grammar in 28 days. The author was distracted by the words “of nouns” that separated the verb form “are formed” from its true subject, the singular noun “plural.” (Another complication, of course, is that many people often think of the word “plural” as an adjective; it is, but it is also a noun that means the class of grammatical forms usually used to denote “more than one” in English.) 

The moral in this very common grammatical error is that we should more closely inspect the form of the subject in a sentence before deciding whether the operative verb should be rendered in the singular or plural form.

When the subject is a noun phrase

If the subject is in the form of a noun phrase, we need to figure out first which word is its operative noun; we shouldn’t be distracted by other nouns that may get in the way between this operative noun and the verb.

Take the following sentence that has a long noun phrase for its subject:

“The lingering dispute between the second cousins [is, are] getting worse with each passing day.”

Here, the plural form “second cousins” gets in the way between the operative noun “dispute,” which is singular, and the operative verb. In constructions like this, however, the subject is the whole phrase “the lingering dispute between the second cousins,” which is singular because its operative noun (“dispute”) is singular. The operative verb should therefore be also singular in form:

“The lingering dispute between the second cousins is getting worse with each passing day.” 

When the subject is a gerund phrase

Now, when the subject of a sentence is a gerund phrase, keep in mind that it is always to be treated as singular no matter how long the modifying phrase that follows it might be. Gerunds, by their very nature, are always singular in number.

Take this example:

“Looking for my friend at the churchyard among the thousands of kneeling devotees [was, were] like looking for a needle in a haystack.”   

The verb should be in the singular form “was” because the gerund phrase “looking for my friend at the churchyard among the thousands of kneeling devotees,” despite its length and its having the plural-form noun phrase “thousands of kneeling devotees” at its tail end, is undoubtedly singular in number.

Here, then, is the grammatically correct construction of that sentence:

“Looking for my friend at the churchyard among the thousands of kneeling devotees was like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

When the subject is an infinitive phrase

Finally, when the subject of a sentence is an infinitive phrase, it should also always be treated as singular no matter how long the modifying phrase that follows it might be. Like gerund phrases, infinitive phrases are always singular in number.
 
Consider this example:

“To seek reelection in the face of harsh and widespread criticisms against her many official blunders [does, do] not appeal to the incumbent provincial governor.”

The verb should be in the singular form “does” because the infinitive phrase “to seek reelection in the face of harsh and widespread criticisms against her many official blunders,” despite its length and its having the plural-form noun phrases “hard and widespread criticisms” and “her many official blunders” getting in the way, is undoubtedly singular in number.

Here, then, is the grammatically correct construction of that sentence:

“To seek reelection in the face of harsh and widespread criticisms against her many official blunders does not appeal to the incumbent provincial governor.”