Answer: Subject-Verb Agreement with Partitive Nouns
Subject-Verb Agreement with Partitive Nouns
rykaine asks: How do you conjugate the verb for a subject that has a prepositional phrase including a plural noun?
With examples from Tin Man.
Partitive nouns are nouns that refer to one part or subset of a greater whole, but are set apart from the whole in some way. They hold hands with the nouns referring to the whole by way of partitive prepositions such as "of", like so:
Some of the apples
Half of my sandwich
When such noun phrases form the subject of the sentence, the noun referring to the part is the true subject, while the noun referring to the whole is part of a prepositional phrase modifying the subject. In other words, the verb must agree in number with the noun that does not belong to the preposition.
"One of the rebels has escaped, Sorceress," said Zero nervously.
"Many of my logcoats are growing lax," mused Azkadellia.
Simple enough, no? But then there are the collective nouns--singular nouns that refer to plural entities, such as group, couple, flock or trio.
"That pair of shoes has got to go," said Leona, surveying Ambrose's shoddily shod feet.
"The pair of you are going to catch hell if your mother finds you wandering the caves," said Vy Sor severely.
Here, the word "pair" is being used in both a singular and a plural sense. What gives? The particular nature of the word "pair" might make the answer almost obvious already, so here's another, less intuitive example:
A group of alchemists calling itself "Scholars for Freedom" has aligned itself with the resistance.
A group of them have already been imprisoned in Azkadellia's tower.
In both examples, the word "group" is being used to refer collectively to many people who share something in common, but in two subtly different ways. In the first sentence, the commonality is more permanent and--to the sentence, at least--more important than the identities of the individuals who share them. In the second, the commonality is incidental. Any of the members of Scholars for Freedom could have fallen prey to Azkadellia's wrath.
The rule of thumb for collective nouns is that when the noun has its own identity that supersedes that of the units it's composed of, it is treated as singular, whereas when the individuals' identities are important, it is treated as a plural: a pair of shoes is typically a unit, while a pair of people is just two people--the identity of the two together is not important enough to erase the individuality of the two separately. A "group" rendered in the singular refers to many individuals with some commonality (such as heritage or a cause) that is more than incidental, and is lost when you just call them "many", whereas a "group" of people who just happen to be in the same place at the same time share a transient commonality that doesn't override each member's individual identity.
The British have it easier. In the Queen's English, any singular noun that refers to plural entities is treated as plural. So words like troop, crowd or gaggle always take plural verbs. When writing in a British voice, you're more likely to come across this convention when using more common words like "union", "army" or "government".
Interrogative nouns like "who" or "which" have undefined numbers, so their subject-verb agreement depends on context. If the partitive noun refers to a singular antecedent, the verb is singular. If the noun refers to a plural antecedent, the verb is plural:
"Which of you boys expects to take me to the harvest dance?" demanded Leona, fixing the two quaking jocks with an icy glare.
"Who among you are ready to take up arms against the tyranny of the fell Witch of the West?" cried Jeb to his eager followers.
So remember, when conjugating verbs to agree with partitive nouns, look to the noun that's not stuck to the preposition. Collective nouns take singular verbs when the collective is the subject and plural verbs when the individuals are the subject, unless you're using British conventions, in which case they always take the plural. Nouns that can be either singular or plural are never both at the same time, so their verbs take the number of the noun.
Sources
The Elephants of Style, by Bill Walsh
rykaine asks: How do you conjugate the verb for a subject that has a prepositional phrase including a plural noun?
With examples from Tin Man.
Partitive nouns are nouns that refer to one part or subset of a greater whole, but are set apart from the whole in some way. They hold hands with the nouns referring to the whole by way of partitive prepositions such as "of", like so:
Some of the apples
Half of my sandwich
When such noun phrases form the subject of the sentence, the noun referring to the part is the true subject, while the noun referring to the whole is part of a prepositional phrase modifying the subject. In other words, the verb must agree in number with the noun that does not belong to the preposition.
"One of the rebels has escaped, Sorceress," said Zero nervously.
"Many of my logcoats are growing lax," mused Azkadellia.
Simple enough, no? But then there are the collective nouns--singular nouns that refer to plural entities, such as group, couple, flock or trio.
"That pair of shoes has got to go," said Leona, surveying Ambrose's shoddily shod feet.
"The pair of you are going to catch hell if your mother finds you wandering the caves," said Vy Sor severely.
Here, the word "pair" is being used in both a singular and a plural sense. What gives? The particular nature of the word "pair" might make the answer almost obvious already, so here's another, less intuitive example:
A group of alchemists calling itself "Scholars for Freedom" has aligned itself with the resistance.
A group of them have already been imprisoned in Azkadellia's tower.
In both examples, the word "group" is being used to refer collectively to many people who share something in common, but in two subtly different ways. In the first sentence, the commonality is more permanent and--to the sentence, at least--more important than the identities of the individuals who share them. In the second, the commonality is incidental. Any of the members of Scholars for Freedom could have fallen prey to Azkadellia's wrath.
The rule of thumb for collective nouns is that when the noun has its own identity that supersedes that of the units it's composed of, it is treated as singular, whereas when the individuals' identities are important, it is treated as a plural: a pair of shoes is typically a unit, while a pair of people is just two people--the identity of the two together is not important enough to erase the individuality of the two separately. A "group" rendered in the singular refers to many individuals with some commonality (such as heritage or a cause) that is more than incidental, and is lost when you just call them "many", whereas a "group" of people who just happen to be in the same place at the same time share a transient commonality that doesn't override each member's individual identity.
The British have it easier. In the Queen's English, any singular noun that refers to plural entities is treated as plural. So words like troop, crowd or gaggle always take plural verbs. When writing in a British voice, you're more likely to come across this convention when using more common words like "union", "army" or "government".
Interrogative nouns like "who" or "which" have undefined numbers, so their subject-verb agreement depends on context. If the partitive noun refers to a singular antecedent, the verb is singular. If the noun refers to a plural antecedent, the verb is plural:
"Which of you boys expects to take me to the harvest dance?" demanded Leona, fixing the two quaking jocks with an icy glare.
"Who among you are ready to take up arms against the tyranny of the fell Witch of the West?" cried Jeb to his eager followers.
So remember, when conjugating verbs to agree with partitive nouns, look to the noun that's not stuck to the preposition. Collective nouns take singular verbs when the collective is the subject and plural verbs when the individuals are the subject, unless you're using British conventions, in which case they always take the plural. Nouns that can be either singular or plural are never both at the same time, so their verbs take the number of the noun.
Sources
The Elephants of Style, by Bill Walsh