tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jan 22 22:12:26 2003

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: "to be" and plurals

>ja' Sangqar:
> >I'm decriptivist only to a certain point.  I can accept that "family" is
> >treated as a singular in American English, but a plural in British 
>English.
> >But a little consistency, please:  "Most" is plural and "of X" is simply 
>a
> >modifier, so "Most of X" is plural, no matter what X is, the vagaries of
> >relaxed speech notwithstanding.
>
>Apologies in advance for the nitpick, but if X is a singular thing, "most
>of X" is also singular.
>
>"Most of the pies ARE warm."
>"Most of the pie IS warm."
>
>Here's where the contention comes in.
>
>If "family" is plural:  "Most of the family ARE asleep."
>If "family" is singular:  "Most of the family IS asleep."
>
>In common American usage, "family" is singular, but the phrase "most of the
>family" is often a sloppy shortening of "most of the members of the
>family".  Thus the typical usage treats "most of the family" as plural.
>The exact same situation exists in Klingon, where {qorDu'} is a singular
>noun, but the usage sometimes treats it as having an elided {nuvpu'}.

<face red>

I wrote this this morning and then on the way to work, I was thinking it 
over and I thought of the phrase "most of it", but it was too late to do 
anything but hope nobody caught it before I corrected it.  (I really wish I 
had email at work.)

Hagh qoHpu' neH HeghtaHvIS SuvwI'pu'.

I often find myself saying "Most of the family is" in relaxed speech, but 
when I'm monitoring my speech, it sounds wrong, wrong, wrong.  On the other 
hand, "The family are" also sounds wrong (well, not wrong, but British).

>-- ghunchu'wI'

Sangqar


_________________________________________________________________
STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE*  
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

Back to archive top level