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Jan Leonard Epema Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Grammar: the usage of 'was'.

I read this in the lyrics of a song: There was more of them than us. Is 'was' correct? Because it seems wrong to me. The word refers to 'them', or actually, 'more of them'. Since 'them' is plural, shouldn't it be 'were' instead of 'was'?
  

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You are right: it is wrong. Lyricists are not the most grammatically aware people.

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2 Answers
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You are right: it is wrong. Lyricists are not the most grammatically aware people.
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Well, my brother disagreed with me, since according to him, it didn't refer to 'them'. According to him, there was an invisible subject that divided it into two separate sentences: "There was (T). (T) was more of them than us." But that doesn't make sense to me... I mean, (something) was more of them than us? That's just impossible.

Thanks for the answer!
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