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Tkacka15 Posted 7 years ago
Grammar
Have been vs has been
He denies that any of his employees have been redundant.
He denies that any of his employees has been redundant.
Are both sentences above grammatical?
Top answer
"have been" is the natural choice. Our normal inclination is to use plural verb with "any of + plural noun". g.
- "have been" is the natural choice.
- Our normal inclination is to use plural verb with "any of + plural noun".
- g.
- ".
- Even in such cases, though, people may still feel a natural tendency to use plural verb.
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1 Answers
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"have been" is the natural choice. Our normal inclination is to use plural verb with "any of + plural noun". Singular verb may be possible if there is a clear restriction to a single item, e.g. "Is any of these passports yours?". Even in such cases, though, people may still feel a natural tendency to use plural verb.
The idea of denying that employees "have been redundant" is odd.
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