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Pructus Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

influences

0Hi!02br
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00The first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is 01u00that02u00 of nature. 02br
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00****************02br
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00The underline'that' seems t be referring to 'influences'.....02br
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00Then why 'that'? not 'those', 'influences' is a plural........0-
  

Top answer

0"Influences" is plural, but "first of the influences" can be either singular or plural, depending on whether "first" refers to the first one or the first few. 0-

— Mr Wordy

  • 0"Influences" is plural, but "first of the influences" can be either singular or plural, depending on whether "first" refers to the first one or the first few.
  • 0-
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3 Answers
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0"Influences" is plural, but "first of the influences" can be either singular or plural, depending on whether "first" refers to the first one or the first few. Here there's only one named influence (the influence of nature), so "first" means "first one" and is therefore singular.0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10pructus12cite10The first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is 10that10 of nature. 12blockquote
10It's not an easy sentence. You have a compound subject, so you'd think a plural verb would be required. If you said, "One of the important influences is that of nature,"
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0Thanks Mr Wordy and Avangi !!02br
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00I need to take time to give it some thought........0-
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