tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 20 07:07:43 2003
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Re: "to be" and plurals
- From: "Sangqar (Sean Healy)" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: "to be" and plurals
- Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 13:13:46 +0000
>Hm, weird. In english this would probably not sound so strange:
> "Most of his family IS maori"
> "Some of his ancestors IS maori"
>(btw, what's maori?)
Actually, since the subjects above are 'most' and 'some', technically the
verb should be 'are':
Most of his family are Maori.
Some of his ancestors are Maori.
However, with subjects like this, most Americans tend to use the verb for
the noun in the prepositional phrase, rather than the one for the head noun,
so:
Most of his family is Maori.
SOme of his ancestors are Maori.
With simple subjects, in American English, we use a singular form of the
verb with a collective noun like family:
His family is Maori.
But in Britain, they say
His family are Maori.
Anyway...
"New Zealand" Sung Segh pong 'oH <Maori>'e'. chaq latlh Daq je Dab <Maori>,
'ach reH "New Zealand" vIQub <Maori> viqelDI'.
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