Is or are
Claus Tondering
a man and a woman in the house"?
I would definitely say "is", but "are" seems much more logical. (We
say "There are two people in the house" or "A man and a woman are in
the house".)
Googling yields a large number of both is's and are's.
Which is correct?
--
Claus Tondering
cybercypher
Both are used. I would probably say "there is" as often as I'd say
"there are", but I would definitely write "there are". Most people who
use the singular copula with a plural predicate nominative would say
and write "there's a man and a woman in the house".
On the SAT, the TOEFL, the TOEIC, and any other standardized formal
English test, it would have to be "there are", but in normal usage,
"there's" and "there is" are probably as frequent as "there are".
It's not a question of "correct/incorrect" unless there's a style
manual or an examiner of some kind involved -- it's a question of
"acceptable/unacceptable". Most style manuals will insist on "there
are", but only some examiners will.
Formal written and spoken English requires "there are".
--
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Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan.
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cybercypher
> Claus Tondering <claus.t...@gmail.com> wrote
>
>> Would you say "There is a man and a woman in the house" or "There
>> are a man and a woman in the house"?
>>
>> I would definitely say "is", but "are" seems much more logical.
>> (We say "There are two people in the house" or "A man and a woman
>> are in the house".)
>>
>> Googling yields a large number of both is's and are's.
>>
>> Which is correct?
>
> Both are used. I would probably say "there is" as often as I'd say
> "there are", but I would definitely write "there are". Most people
> who use the singular copula with a plural predicate nominative
> would say and write "there's a man and a woman in the house".
>
> On the SAT, the TOEFL, the TOEIC, and any other standardized
> formal English test, it would have to be "there are", but in
> normal usage, "there's" and "there is" are probably as frequent as
> "there are".
>
> It's not a question of "correct/incorrect" unless there's a style
> manual or an examiner of some kind involved -- it's a question of
> "acceptable/unacceptable". Most style manuals will insist on
> "there are", but only some examiners will.
>
> Formal written and spoken English requires "there are".[1]
NOTE: [1] This is one of those instances in which both "is" and
"are" are acceptable because it depends on how one thinks about the
subject. Is "formal written and spoken English" a singular collective
entity or two individual singular entities? I see them as a singular
collective entity because of the word "formal". To me, "formal
English" is equivalent to "formal written and spoken English". I
think other native anglophones here will see it the opposite way and
say that "Formal written and spoken English require" is correct.
fyf...@gmail.com
I would pick "there are" as " a man and a woman" is not necessarily a
commonly used _singular collective entity_. On the other hand,
"_bread and butter_ is waiting for you in the dinner room" seems
correct as _bread and butter_ is commonly used.
>
> --
> Claus Tondering
fyf...@gmail.com
(1)A lot of noise bothers me.
(2)A lot of people bother me.
(3)A colllection of people bothers me.
TKS
On 4月27日, 下午3时06分, cybercypher <dontbot...@easypeasy.com> wrote:
> Claus Tondering <claus.tonder...@gmail.com> wrote
Don Phillipson
news:1177660190....@r30g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
> Would you say "There is a man and a woman in the house" or "There are
> a man and a woman in the house"?
>
> I would definitely say "is", but "are" seems much more logical.
1. English has no special phrases reserved for use
as existential statements, like German ES SIND or
French IL Y A.
2. Speech is not rigorously governed by logic.
Germans say ES SIND LIONEN . . . but French say
IL Y A DES LIONS . . . and both are correct.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
cybercypher
> How about the following?
> (1)A lot of noise bothers me.
Yes, okay. It means that "a great deal of noise bothers me".
> (2)A lot of people bother me.
Yes, okay. It means that "many different people bother me".
> (3)A colllection of people bothers me.
Yes, okay. It means that "a group of people bother(BrE)/bothers(AmE)
me".
bry...@attglobal.net
"Claus Tondering" <claus.t...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1177660190....@r30g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
Elliptical and parallel.
"There is a man and [there is] a woman in the house."
Jim
Claus Tondering
wrote:
> 2. Speech is not rigorously governed by logic.
> Germans say ES SIND LIONEN . . .
Nope.
ES GIBT LÖWEN...
--
Claus Tondering