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plural or singular

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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue May 08, 2012 6:18 am
"A proportion" is indeed plural since it uses the indefinite article "a." If we replace "a proportion" with whatever the actual proportion of women who work is, it makes sense:

30% of women work.

or

1% of women work.

or

90% of women work.
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by simone88 » Tue May 08, 2012 10:22 am
Bill@VeritasPrep wrote:"A proportion" is indeed plural
I didn't know that. Thanks
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by simone88 » Tue May 08, 2012 2:19 pm
so, for instance, is it correct to say
a big percentage of the income are ( or) a big proportion of the income are
rather than
a big percentge of the income is ( or) a big proportion of the income is
?
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue May 08, 2012 2:21 pm
It's similar to "a number" or "the number":

A number of women are meeting on Friday.

The number of women attending college is increasing.

"A number" is indefinite (much like "a proportion"), but we know that it refers to more than one woman.

On the other hand, "the number" is referring to exactly one number. I think of it as almost a singular statistic, so I treat it as singular.
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by confuse mind » Tue May 08, 2012 5:55 pm
Bill@VeritasPrep wrote:"A proportion" is indeed plural since it uses the indefinite article "a." If we replace "a proportion" with whatever the actual proportion of women who work is, it makes sense:

30% of women work.

or

1% of women work.

or

90% of women work.

@Bill,
Please refine your statement as an expert's reply should be there:
"A proportion" is indeed plural since it uses the indefinite article "a."

The above was not clear to me until I read your next post which talks about 'a number' and 'the number'. Put forward your thoughts clearly please, else being expert's answer it can be misleading
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by confuse mind » Tue May 08, 2012 5:57 pm
simone88 wrote:so, for instance, is it correct to say
a big percentage of the income are ( or) a big proportion of the income are
rather than
a big percentage of the income is ( or) a big proportion of the income is
?
a big proportion of the income is - correct since income is uncountable and a proportion of wheat/income(uncountable) remains uncountable and thus singular
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by confuse mind » Tue May 08, 2012 6:02 pm
confuse mind wrote:
Bill@VeritasPrep wrote:"A proportion" is indeed plural since it uses the indefinite article "a." If we replace "a proportion" with whatever the actual proportion of women who work is, it makes sense:

30% of women work.

or

1% of women work.

or

90% of women work.

@Bill,
Please refine your statement as an expert's reply should be there:
"A proportion" is indeed plural since it uses the indefinite article "a."

The above was not clear to me until I read your next post which talks about 'a number' and 'the number'. Put forward your thoughts clearly please, else being expert's answer it can be misleading

NO offense to you, I really appreciate your participation in the forum and prompt replies. All I want is you meet your goal of helping people here in a better fashion....thanks!
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue May 08, 2012 6:28 pm
I try to provide examples when possible. If they are not clear, feel free to ask and I'll clarify, but your post came off as overly critical.
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