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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Respectively. Correct usage?

Mr. X has three loan accounts, agreement numbers: 1234567, 6789012 and 3545366. The outstanding balances are £83.85, £46.06 and £76.26 respectively.

or should it be:

The outstanding balance is £83.85, £46.06 and £76.26 respectively.
  

Top answer

The outstanding balances are ...

  • The outstanding balances are ...
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3 Answers
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The outstanding balances are ...
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Thank you. Are there any reasons? I was of the understanding that "respectively" meant singular items.
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It means that the items are taken one by one in the same order as previously mentioned, but there are still three items, so the plural seems natural to me.

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