Bulk

Question

Is this sentence correct? What is the subject for the first 'are' and the subject for the second 'are' ?

1. The bulk of the processing and memory resources that are required for network management are provided by Network Management System. (Is the first 'are' correct here? Or should it be 'is' because of 'bulk' ?)

2. The majority of the things is done this way. (For this sentence, 'majority' makes sentence for the subject but in #1, the subject 'bulk' doesn't make sense for the latter 'are' right? Why is that the case?)

Thanks.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

The bulk of
the processing and memory resources that are required ...
is provided by ...

The majority of things are done this way.

majority of is a number transparent expression. (That means agreement is with what comes after of -- which always happens to be plural.)

CJ

Marius Hancu · Answer

I prefer
which are required
as it IMO better indicates selection from a set

Davkett · Answer

Marius HancuI prefer
which are required
as it IMO better indicates selection from a set

I think I'd stay with 'that' here because it is more clearly restrictive to the portion of processing and memory resources 'required for network management'. 'Which' might suggest that all the processes and memory resources are required for network management, although such a 'which' phrase would be punctuated with surrounding commas. Am I wrong?

Bulk

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