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Index »
Radio Paradise/General »
General Discussion »
Grammar Question
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Page: Previous 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 64, 65, 66 Next |
DD gypsyman
Location: Joined Nov 27, 2006 Gender:
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Posted:
May 22, 2013 - 8:32pm |
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OlderThanDirt wrote: There are some gophers in my yard. I don't know how many, but there is a number, if I bothered to count. There is a number of dog turds, too. I don't own a dog.
he is not my dog
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OlderThanDirt
Location: In Transit Gender:
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Posted:
May 22, 2013 - 8:26pm |
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Xeric wrote:There are a number of dog turds in my yard, too.
There are some gophers in my yard. I don't know how many, but there is a number, if I bothered to count. There is a number of dog turds, too. I don't own a dog.
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Red_Dragon
Location: Dumbf*ckistan
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Posted:
May 22, 2013 - 8:17pm |
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Xeric wrote:There are a number of dog turds in my yard, too.
oh I hate that.
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Xeric
Location: Montana Gender:
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Posted:
May 22, 2013 - 8:06pm |
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There are a number of dog turds in my yard, too.
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katzendogs
Location: Pasadena ,Texas Gender:
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Posted:
May 22, 2013 - 6:16pm |
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Steve wrote: "because your big head is why"
But but, they won't use my big head!
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Steve
Location: Around My Corner... and Up Yours Gender:
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Posted:
May 22, 2013 - 6:11pm |
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katzendogs wrote:This was sent to me via text. I was totally lost in thought.. "No really and who's fault is that Jay, retorical (sic) question" What does one reply?
"because your big head is why"
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katzendogs
Location: Pasadena ,Texas Gender:
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Posted:
May 22, 2013 - 6:08pm |
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This was sent to me via text. I was totally lost in thought.. "No really and who's fault is that Jay, retorical (sic) question" What does one reply?
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islander
Location: Seattle Gender:
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Posted:
Mar 23, 2013 - 6:31pm |
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lester wrote:"Firefly" or "lightning bug"?
Sci Fi show or cocktail?
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JrzyTmata
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Posted:
Mar 23, 2013 - 5:16pm |
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lightning bug
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lester
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Posted:
Mar 23, 2013 - 5:13pm |
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"Firefly" or "lightning bug"?
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BillJ
Location: just far enough away from NYC Gender:
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Posted:
Mar 5, 2013 - 8:38am |
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ScottFromWyoming wrote: But back to the topic for a minute... it's interesting that "a number" is the only term that takes the plural verb.
There is a metric crap-ton of dog turds in our yard. There is a plethora... There are a number of dog turds in our yard. I suppose that saying "there is a number of dog turds" could lead to some confusion whereby people think my dog has arranged his turds into a figure 4. Or that there is a number and that number is four and four is the number of dog turds. So I guess over time people just settled on the plural treatment not for any positive logical reason but because to go with the singular leaves the reader wondering exactly what the number is. I don't think one is more correct grammatically, but "number" has the unfortunate problem of making people think of precision when the writer actually is being deliberately vague. So from now on I think I'll try to avoid "a number of" because it's just rude to use it and make the reader think well if there's a number then why not tell me? Oh, it's a plethora? Then I don't care, I know it's a lot, that's good enough.
Maybe you should look into getting one of these
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OlderThanDirt
Location: In Transit Gender:
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Posted:
Mar 4, 2013 - 10:37pm |
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ScottFromWyoming wrote: But back to the topic for a minute... it's interesting that "a number" is the only term that takes the plural verb.
There is a metric crap-ton of dog turds in our yard. There is a plethora... There are a number of dog turds in our yard. I suppose that saying "there is a number of dog turds" could lead to some confusion whereby people think my dog has arranged his turds into a figure 4. Or that there is a number and that number is four and four is the number of dog turds. So I guess over time people just setled otn the plural treatment not for any positive logical reason but because to go with the singular leaves the reader wondering exactly what the number is. I don't think one is more correct grammatically, but "number" has the unfortunate problem of making people think of precision when the writer actually is being deliberately vague. So from now on I think I'll try to avoid "a number of" because it's just rude to use it and make the reader think well if there's a number then why not tell me? Oh, it's a plethora? Then I don't care, I know it's a lot, that's good enough.
In my case, I didn't know the exact number so I was trying to be vague. "Some" would have been vague enough. I didn't want to use "a few" or "several" because I didn't really know.
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ScottFromWyoming
Location: Powell Gender:
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Posted:
Mar 4, 2013 - 10:09pm |
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NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: metric crap-ton is going into my next financial report. But back to the topic for a minute... it's interesting that "a number" is the only term that takes the plural verb. There is a metric crap-ton of dog turds in our yard. There is a plethora... There are a number of dog turds in our yard. I suppose that saying "there is a number of dog turds" could lead to some confusion whereby people think my dog has arranged his turds into a figure 4. Or that there is a number and that number is four and four is the number of dog turds. So I guess over time people just settled on the plural treatment not for any positive logical reason but because to go with the singular leaves the reader wondering exactly what the number is. I don't think one is more correct grammatically, but "number" has the unfortunate problem of making people think of precision when the writer actually is being deliberately vague. So from now on I think I'll try to avoid "a number of" because it's just rude to use it and make the reader think well if there's a number then why not tell me? Oh, it's a plethora? Then I don't care, I know it's a lot, that's good enough.
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OlderThanDirt
Location: In Transit Gender:
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Posted:
Mar 4, 2013 - 10:07pm |
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NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: gaggle slew murder
just some of my current favorites
In this case, I think I should have said, "a few," but as I was writing about attorneys, gaggle would have worked just fine.
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NoEnzLefttoSplit
Gender:
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Posted:
Mar 4, 2013 - 9:57pm |
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ScottFromWyoming wrote: passel buttload plethora metric crap-ton brazilian
metric crap-ton is going into my next financial report.
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ScottFromWyoming
Location: Powell Gender:
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Posted:
Mar 4, 2013 - 9:52pm |
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NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: gaggle slew murder
just some of my current favorites
passel buttload plethora metric crap-ton brazilian
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NoEnzLefttoSplit
Gender:
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Posted:
Mar 4, 2013 - 9:49pm |
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OlderThanDirt wrote: Good advice. I should have thought of that. I could just as easily have said,"There are a half dozen or so . . ." or " There is a fistful of . . ." but there's that question again. You're right, I like "some." gaggle slew murder just some of my current favorites
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OlderThanDirt
Location: In Transit Gender:
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Posted:
Mar 4, 2013 - 9:24pm |
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ScottFromWyoming wrote:I came into this thread late and saw that after a couple of false starts, the advice straightened out and got you the right answer, so I didn't pile on. But "a number of" is also a little flouncy writing when "some" will usually do. Which brings up the point I always remember too late: the easiest solution to a grammar quandary is to rewrite Good advice. I should have thought of that. I could just as easily have said,"There are a half dozen or so . . ." or "There is a fistful of . . ." but there's that question again. You're right, I like "some."
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ScottFromWyoming
Location: Powell Gender:
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Posted:
Mar 4, 2013 - 9:11pm |
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OlderThanDirt wrote:That was interesting! Thank you all for your input. The distinction between "The number of" (singular) and "A number of" (plural) tells me that it is not an easy choice to make.
I reopened my Word doc with WordPerfect and ran its grammar checker (the English teacher from hell), and its opinion agrees with Word. "The subject, number of . . . (plural nouns) usually requires a plural verb." So, I believe the preponderance of opinion is with "are.There are a number of divergent opinions on this subject, and I don't think any of them are terribly wrong.
I came into this thread late and saw that after a couple of false starts, the advice straightened out and got you the right answer, so I didn't pile on. But "a number of" is also a little flouncy writing when "some" will usually do. Which brings up the point I always remember too late: the easiest solution to a grammar quandary is to rewrite
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OlderThanDirt
Location: In Transit Gender:
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Posted:
Mar 4, 2013 - 8:06pm |
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That was interesting! Thank you all for your input. The distinction between "The number of" (singular) and "A number of" (plural) tells me that it is not an easy choice to make.
I reopened my Word doc with WordPerfect and ran its grammar checker (the English teacher from hell), and its opinion agrees with Word. "The subject, number of . . . (plural nouns) usually requires a plural verb." So, I believe the preponderance of opinion is with "are.There are a number of divergent opinions on this subject, and I don't think any of them are terribly wrong.
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