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OG15, SC Q67

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OG15, SC Q67

by prunoti.dutta » Sun Sep 27, 2015 7:19 pm
The 32 species that make up the dolphin family are closely related...

Is subject here "The 32 species that make up the dolphin family" singular or plural?

OG answer explanation says plural owing to 32 species. I feel it should be singular owing to "family" as a singular collective noun.
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by KarenVH » Sun Sep 27, 2015 8:28 pm
The noun that is the subject of the sentence is "species." The word "family" is contained in a modifier, so it isn't the subject.

Imagine that the modifier were something different -- let's say "The 32 species of dolphins that come from Madagascar are closely related..." We wouldn't say that the verb should be "is" because of "Madagascar." It's clear that the sentence is talking about dolphin species, not Madagascar. The original problem from the OG has the exact same structure.


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by Dblooos » Sun Sep 27, 2015 8:33 pm
It is plural in this case but it can be singular too. Consider this:
The 32 species make up this dolphin family, which is finally migrating to North Sea..
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