From a letter in the Times.
Everybody seems now to use this horribly unmathematical construction. Am I the old dissentient left?
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was for nearly three decades at Lancing College; where he taught Latin and Greek language and literature, was Head of Theology, and Assistant Chaplain. He has served three curacies, been a Parish Priest, and Senior Research Fellow at Pusey House in Oxford. Since 2011, he has been in full communion with the See of S Peter. The opinions expressed on this Blog are not asserted as being those of the Magisterium of the Church, but as the writer's opinions as a private individual. Nevertheless, the writer strives, hopes, and prays that the views he expresses are conformable with and supportive of the Magisterium. In this blog, the letters PF stand for Pope Francis. On this blog, 'Argumentum ad hominem' refers solely to the Lockean definition, Pressing a man with the consequences of his own concessions'.
... once graced the high altar of the church of Sancta Maria in Ara Coeli on the Capitoline Hill.
Fr John Hunwicke
was for nearly three decades at Lancing College; where he taught Latin and Greek language and literature, was Head of Theology, and Assistant Chaplain. He has served three curacies, been a Parish Priest, and Senior Research Fellow at Pusey House in Oxford. Since 2011, he has been in full communion with the See of S Peter. The opinions expressed on this Blog are not asserted as being those of the Magisterium of the Church, but as the writer's opinions as a private individual. Nevertheless, the writer strives, hopes, and prays that the views he expresses are conformable with and supportive of the Magisterium. In this blog, the letters PF stand for Pope Francis. On this blog, 'Argumentum ad hominem' refers solely to the Lockean definition, Pressing a man with the consequences of his own concessions'.
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13 comments:
“Range” is the head of the noun phrase; the singular verb form is in order.
Dear Father Hunwicke, on Radio 4 the other day: 'That is something that me and my colleagues have been looking into.' ('Me want...' 'me go...' 'me hungry...')? and 'me' first! That sentence seems to reflect some of the changes in our society.
You are not alone.
Moreover, 'a range of', like 'a number of', usually adds nothing but length to a sentence.
Fowler would allow the plural on the grounds that the measures are in place,not the range.Similarly,A number of letters have been received.
This sort of mistake is of course very common, because the genitive plural ("of measures") falsely attracts the plural copula ("are"), instead of the more distant singular ("range") correctly requiring the singular "is".
'"Greed is Dead," co-authored by John Kay and I' (Sir Paul Collier, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Oxford Blavatnik School of Government; article 'Why we should be more like Denmark', posted today on Unherd).
If there is a range of measures, perhaps we can measure the measures with a measure. The measures by which we measure the measures with a measure could also then be measured.
Fowler would allow the use of the plural on the grounds that the measures had been taken rather than the number of them.Similarly,a number of letters have ben received.
Haven't you heard? The number of the verb is governed by the nearest noun. So much simpler than parsing.
I think The Flying Dutchman is correct in strict terms. However, there are undoubtedly cases where a grammatically singular term conveys a plural sense. Would it sound natural, for example, to say 'The Police IS after me'? Or the 'The couple upstairs IS having a noisy argument'? I would say that although in each case Police and Couple is grammatically singular, they are more intuitively imagined here in a plural sense. (Unless one were happy to say that the couple was arguing with ITself; awkward, I think.) On the other hand, it does not necessarily sound odd to say 'An army marches on ITS stomach', even though in reality thousands of individual tommies' tummies might be a-rumble.
Do not the Classical languages, certainly Greek, have irregularities like this? "Construction according to sense" is a phrase I remember, signifying that strict grammatical rules did not apply in particular cases. Certainly Greek neuter plurals took singular verbs. Much of it is to do with familiarity. I agree that "a range of...are" is jarring, but "a number of ...are" less so.
My local newspaper today has an article which starts 'The government are...' and in the very next line writes 'the government is ...' Hedging their bets here.
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