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Anonymous Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

a large or just large

0Hi,02br
02br
00When do you use the following phrases?02br
02br
01i00a large number02i02br
02br
01i00large numbers02i02br
02br
01i00Are they different in usage?02i0-
  

Top answer

0 You need to give us more context. 02br 02br 00 CJ0-

— CalifJim

  • 0 You need to give us more context.
  • 02br 02br 00 CJ0-
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5 Answers
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0 You need to give us more context. I suspect that in some sentences either one could be used; in others there would be a difference.02br
02br
00 Can you provide complete sentences with these expressions so that we can have a better idea of how to help?02br
02br
00 CJ0-
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0The simple contextual sentences are like this:02br
02br
01i00There is a large number of Chinese.02i02br
02br
01i00There are large numbers of Chinese02i00.0-
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0I would use 01i00are 02i00in both sentences; otherwise, they are both fine. 01i00A large number of / large numbers of02i00 are quantifiers in my opinion.0-
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0Thank you, MM, but I was looking at another post, and one of the people replied said that "number" is a singular collective noun and it deserves to be follow up with "is" and not "are." But as it seems that the other case did not have "large" in front of number though, so the fact there is an adjective "large" makes the sentence to have a plural verb, "are." Right? 02br
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0It is not a singular collective noun (01i00team, family, staff,02i00 etc); it is a quantifier.02br
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00'01u00A large number of02u00 is used before plurals, and a following verb is plural.'-- Swan, 01i00Practical English Usage02i00.0-
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