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Index » Radio Paradise/General » General Discussion » Grammar Question Page: Previous  1, 2, 3, 4 ... 64, 65, 66  Next
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DD gypsyman

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Location: Joined Nov 27, 2006
Gender: Male


Posted: May 22, 2013 - 8:32pm

 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
OlderThanDirt

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Location: In Transit
Gender: Male


Posted: May 22, 2013 - 8:26pm

 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.
Red_Dragon

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Location: Dumbf*ckistan


Posted: May 22, 2013 - 8:17pm

 Xeric wrote:
There are a number of dog turds in my yard, too.

 

 
oh I hate that.
Xeric

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Location: Montana
Gender: Male


Posted: May 22, 2013 - 8:06pm

There are a number of dog turds in my yard, too.

 
katzendogs

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Location: Pasadena ,Texas
Gender: Male


Posted: May 22, 2013 - 6:16pm

 Steve wrote:

"because your big head is why"

 
But but, they won't use my big head!
 
Steve

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Location: Around My Corner... and Up Yours
Gender: Male


Posted: May 22, 2013 - 6:11pm

 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"
katzendogs

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Location: Pasadena ,Texas
Gender: Male


Posted: May 22, 2013 - 6:08pm

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? 
islander

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Location: Seattle
Gender: Male


Posted: Mar 23, 2013 - 6:31pm

 lester wrote:
"Firefly" or "lightning bug"?

 
Sci Fi show or cocktail?
JrzyTmata

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Posted: Mar 23, 2013 - 5:16pm

lightning bug
lester

lester Avatar



Posted: Mar 23, 2013 - 5:13pm

"Firefly" or "lightning bug"?
BillJ

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Location: just far enough away from NYC
Gender: Male


Posted: Mar 5, 2013 - 8:38am

 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

OlderThanDirt

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Location: In Transit
Gender: Male


Posted: Mar 4, 2013 - 10:37pm

 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.

 
{#Lol}

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.
ScottFromWyoming

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Location: Powell
Gender: Male


Posted: Mar 4, 2013 - 10:09pm

 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.
OlderThanDirt

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Location: In Transit
Gender: Male


Posted: Mar 4, 2013 - 10:07pm

 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.
NoEnzLefttoSplit

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Gender: Male


Posted: Mar 4, 2013 - 9:57pm

 ScottFromWyoming wrote:

passel
buttload
plethora
metric crap-ton
brazilian 

 
metric crap-ton is going into my next financial report.
ScottFromWyoming

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Location: Powell
Gender: Male


Posted: Mar 4, 2013 - 9:52pm

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:

gaggle
slew
murder

just some of my current favorites

 
passel
buttload
plethora
metric crap-ton
brazilian 
NoEnzLefttoSplit

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Gender: Male


Posted: Mar 4, 2013 - 9:49pm

 OlderThanDirt wrote:

{#Lol} 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
OlderThanDirt

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Location: In Transit
Gender: Male


Posted: Mar 4, 2013 - 9:24pm

 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

 
{#Lol} 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."


ScottFromWyoming

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Location: Powell
Gender: Male


Posted: Mar 4, 2013 - 9:11pm

 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
OlderThanDirt

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Location: In Transit
Gender: Male


Posted: Mar 4, 2013 - 8:06pm

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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