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Sesquipedalian101 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Pair of Eyes is/are... on/in the ocean

Australian Deputy PM has been reported to have said, "It is more likely that a pair of eyes are going to identify something floating in the ocean."

I wonder, shouldn't it be "a pair of eyes is" and "floating on the ocean"?
  

Top answer

Proximal concordance makes sense here, although grammatical concordance is correct grammatically. " When something floats "in the ocean" it is partially (or mostly) submerged. When something floats "on the ocean", there is not very much of it below the water's surface.

— AlpheccaStars

  • Proximal concordance makes sense here, although grammatical concordance is correct grammatically.
  • " When something floats "in the ocean" it is partially (or mostly) submerged.
  • When something floats "on the ocean", there is not very much of it below the water's surface.
  • A surfboard floats on the water.
  • )
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2 Answers
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Proximal concordance makes sense here, although grammatical concordance is correct grammatically. It is more likely that a pair of eyes are going to identify something floating in the ocean."

When something floats "in the ocean" it is partially (or mostly) submerged. When something floats "on the ocean", there is not very much of it below the water's surface. A surfb
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Thank you very much, AlpheccaStars.

Can I, therefore, say it is "A ship on the Pacific Ocean" if I am seeing it on the world map, for instance, but it is "in the sea" or "in the ocean" if I see it as floating in the vast sea? For example,

1. I can see a ship on the ocean.
2. They spotted a tanker in the sea.
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