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Guest Posted 23 years ago
Grammar

Noun - object of preposition agreement question

Thank you ahead of time for any help. A response would be greatly appreciated.

This is the sentence:

"Uranium-thorium analysis joins carbon 14 dating as methods that scientists can use to determine the age of archaeological finds."

Isn't it better to have the words "age" and "archaeological finds" agree in number so that the sentence would be:

"Uranium-thorium analysis joins carbon 14 dating as methods that scientists can use to determine the ages of archaeological finds."

Also, is it necessary to change "methods" to "a method"?

Thanks again.
  

Top answer

As the subject is Uranium-thorium analysis, the first part should be singular. In the last part, I agree that it should be "ages of finds". " The fact that it's like carbon 14 dating is a side issue.

— John C.

  • As the subject is Uranium-thorium analysis, the first part should be singular.
  • In the last part, I agree that it should be "ages of finds".
  • " The fact that it's like carbon 14 dating is a side issue.
  • Cheers John.
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1 Answers
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As the subject is Uranium-thorium analysis, the first part should be singular. In the last part, I agree that it should be "ages of finds".

Thus:

"Uranium-thorium [is] a method that scientists can use to determine the ages of archaeological finds."

The fact that it's like carbon 14 dating is a side issue.



Cheers

John.
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