Population - singular or plural?

Question

Hello there!Is it correct that the noun "population" is also plural and singular?So:The population does not get/ The population do not get....works both?What is the difference then?a second question:I always thought "information" is always singular. Is this correct?I am asking this, because I do not find the note [sing.] in my Oxford dictionary.Greetings,aRo

Forbes · Accepted Answer

Like many nouns of this kind, whether population is considered singular or plural tends to depend on whether the population is being considered collectively or as individuals and/or whether the compliment is singular or plural, e.g.

The population of Newton is behind me.

The population of Newton are a load of idiots.

I cannot think of a situation where the word information can used in the plural, except the technical one where it means a complaint laid before a justice of the peace.

ARo · Answer

thank you very much!

Danyoo · Answer

There are some words such as population, crowd, police, people etc., which can behave both as a singular or plural noun depending on how they are used in a sentence.

Then there are some words like information where you do not quantify by saying an information or two informations. Rather you would say some information or a piece of information. Another example is water. You don't say a water. Rather you would say some water, a glass of water, etc.

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks Forbes, that is really clear now, in fact the rest of the sentence is the bit that was getting puzzling and your principal of how you view the population as many individuals or a coherent group has helped me balance the rest out...

70 % of the population are aware of the impact of their consumption on the environment.

or

70 % of the population is aware of the impact of its consumption on the environment.

I am pretty sure either of these options works, I was originally correcting something written by someone else:

70 % of the population is aware of the impact of their consumption on the environment.

Which doesn't match up.

Thanks again

James (France)

Anonymous · Answer

in this sentence, "57% of our population have completed..." have or has completed?
doesn't "our" indicate plural?

AlpheccaStars · Answer

"57% of our population has completed..."

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm
See rule #11. This is an example of proximal concord.

The possessive pronoun "our" has nothing to do with subject-verb agreement.

eg.
Our baby is sick.
All of our children are sick.
Our parents are coming to visit us.
Our house is decorated for Christmas already.

Anonymous · Answer

Which is correct to say/write?

REACHING OUT TO THE IMMIGRANT POPULATIONS OF AMERICA
OR
REACHING OUT TO THE IMMIGRANT POPULATION OF AMERICA

Pastor Albert Idowu

AlpheccaStars · Answer

AnonymousREACHING OUT TO THE IMMIGRANT POPULATIONS OF AMERICA

Please don't use all CAPS.

The plural makes sense since the immigrants come from different cultures, and have arrived in different generations. So there are multiple "populations."

The singular means that you are lumping them all together into one group.

Population - singular or plural?

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