SV Agreement

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gmatrant: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 416; Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:08 am; Thanked: 10 times; Followed by:1 members

SV Agreement

by gmatrant » Wed Oct 31, 2007 6:01 pm

Are the following sentences right.

Most of you is going to do this task today.
Some of you is going to the other class today.

I was told some, most ,any, none all, most are indefinite pronouns where the verb follows what is after 'of'.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Wed Oct 31, 2007 6:01 pm

pahwa: Community Manager; Posts: 117; Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:49 pm; Thanked: 9 times

by pahwa » Thu Nov 01, 2007 6:33 am

Okay, here is the tip. The same has aso been updated in TIP of the day thread...

Indefinite Pronouns: List of pronouns that are considered singular:
Anyone, anybody, anything
someone, somebody
everyone, everything
no one etc

Following indefinite pronoun are considered Plural:
Any, Some, None, All and Most.

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Danielle: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 215; Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:59 pm; Location: Mississippi; Thanked: 21 times; Followed by:3 members

by Danielle » Sat Nov 03, 2007 7:24 am

Pahwa included a handy pronoun guide in his post. Those sentences are incorrect, as the indefinite pronouns you've used are plural. The verb should be 'are' in both sentences.

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gmatrant: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 416; Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:08 am; Thanked: 10 times; Followed by:1 members

by gmatrant » Sat Nov 03, 2007 4:22 pm

Danielle wrote:Pahwa included a handy pronoun guide in his post. Those sentences are incorrect, as the indefinite pronouns you've used are plural. The verb should be 'are' in both sentences.

I picked this info from the manhattan SC and thats how I applied it. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Some, Any, None, All , Most
How can you tell if these pronouns are singular or plural? Look at the "of" construction which usually follows the pronoun. You look at the object of the "of" construction to determine the number of the subject.

Most of you is going to do this task today.
Some of you is going to the other class today.

I followed the above rule, after 'of' is 'you' which is singular so I used a singular verb. Yes, these sentence are very awkward and that is why I posted them on the forum.

Please comment.

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Danielle: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 215; Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:59 pm; Location: Mississippi; Thanked: 21 times; Followed by:3 members

by Danielle » Sat Nov 03, 2007 6:20 pm

G-rant,

We did comment. The relative pronouns some, any, all, none, and most are plural. It doesn't matter about 'of'.

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gmatrant: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 416; Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:08 am; Thanked: 10 times; Followed by:1 members

by gmatrant » Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:25 am

Danielle wrote:G-rant,

We did comment. The relative pronouns some, any, all, none, and most are plural. It doesn't matter about 'of'.

Danielle,

Sorry if my post has irked you. My previous post was a copy-paste from what was in the Manhattan SC Guide and the question was asked by the authors of Manhattan Guide and was answered by them as well. So if my previous post sounded like I was asking the question again, sorry for not mentioning that I was just quoting the source as such from Manhattan SC.

Coming to your point, Some, most , any all take plural verbs.

But Manhattan Guide quotes otherwise and they have given the following examples..
Some of the money WAS stolen from my wallet.(Money is singular)
Some of the documents WERE stolen from the bank (Documents is plural).

So going by what Manhattan had given, Some does not always take a plural verb as quoted by phawa, and this is want I wanted you guys to comment on. So is Manhattan wrong in saying that Indefinite pronouns like some take the verb depending on the "of" construction following the pronoun.

Thanks
G'rant (I am sorry if it sounded as if I was ranting away in any of my posts, I was just seeking a clarification!)

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Danielle: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 215; Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:59 pm; Location: Mississippi; Thanked: 21 times; Followed by:3 members

by Danielle » Sun Nov 04, 2007 12:35 pm

G'rant,

I wasn't irked, no worries:)

As for your quote from Manhattan, they are right in those examples. I didn't really get what you were asking. English is so tricky -- the word money is special because it's factually plural and grammatically singular, but most times the expression 'some of' is plural. Think of it this way: 'some of' inherently implies a smaller selection of a group of things. It' got to be plural. Money is the exception not the rule, and I am sure there are a few others, but Pahwa was mostly right.

Anybody else want to weigh with another 'exception example? I can't think of any!

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beeparoo: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 200; Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:46 am; Location: Canada; Thanked: 9 times

by beeparoo » Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:43 pm

gmatrant wrote: I followed the above rule, after 'of' is 'you' which is singular so I used a singular verb.

gmatrant:

Why would you assume that "you" is singular in the context of this question?

Suppose that a lecturer is standing in front of a class of a dozen pupils and says to them:

"Most of you will have difficulty on the exam"

Logically, the lecturer is addressing many individuals.

If she were only addressing one individual, then she would mean that a major proportion of that individual's existence will have difficulty on the exam - a ridiculous comment, if you think about it.

For those who know French, consider how both "tu" and "vous" are translated in English to be (the seemingly singular) "you".

Cheers

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pahwa: Community Manager; Posts: 117; Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:49 pm; Thanked: 9 times

by pahwa » Sun Nov 04, 2007 7:04 pm

gmatrant:
Pls imagine one logical scenerio. A teacher speaking to a class. I mean class students.
Now, when he says "Some of YOUR books...". He refers to those class students by YOUR...it does not mean he is speaking to just one student. Had that been a case, please be logical, he would not have used SOME at first place. He would have straight away said :"Your book..." etc.

I hope I am clear enough.

Lets take another example: Lets say, you are replying to all the comments to your posts. And you want to consolidate your reply in just one response.
How will you do that?
You would obviously write something like this...
"Some of your responses ARE confusing. But I understood the meaning." But, now by this you actually imply to all of us who have replied to your posts. Am I correct?

When I say "Some of your responses..." I mean to say, the responses sent by "you guys".