tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 20 16:49:43 2003
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Re: "to be" and plurals
On Mon, 20 Jan 2003, David Trimboli wrote:
> >From: Quvar valer <[email protected]>
> >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?)
>
> "Maori" is probably the plural of "Maori," so let's choose something a
> little less confusing for comparison.
>
> "Most of his family are officers."
> "Some of his ancestors are officers."
>
> You MIGHT get away with "is" instead of "are" in the first of these
> sentences, but it would sound funny to a lot of people.
Also consider the English when using adjectives:
"Most of his family is German."
"Some of his ancestors are German."
"Most of his family is tall."
"Some of his ancestors are tall."
...Paul
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