Simple Subjects and Determiners
Hello,
I have a question about the simple subject in the following sentence: "A large number of swimmers competed in the race this year." I believe "a large number" is a determiner, which is often treated like an adjective. That would make "swimmers" the simple subject. However, my English teacher insists that the answer is "number" because "of swimmers" is a prepositional phrase. Please tell me who is right on this topic. Thank you in advance.
Top answer
I think you can argue this both ways. "a large number of swimmers" can be seen as analogous to, say, "ten swimmers", making "swimmers" the head noun. ".
- I think you can argue this both ways.
- "a large number of swimmers" can be seen as analogous to, say, "ten swimmers", making "swimmers" the head noun.
- ".
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I think you can argue this both ways.
"a large number of swimmers" can be seen as analogous to, say, "ten swimmers", making "swimmers" the head noun.
Alternatively you could say that the head noun is "(large) number", and "of swimmers" modifies this to tell us "large number of what?".
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