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Taka Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
singular/plural
I am not opposed to game hunting for subsistence, and I can live with hunting rifles. Single-shot rifles. It will not be an easy or swift matter to eliminate guns; 200 million weapons is a lot of metal, a lot to find.
Why the singular 'is' here, not 'are'?
Why the singular 'is' here, not 'are'?
Top answer
It is a single (or uncountable) quantity of metal.
- It is a single (or uncountable) quantity of metal.
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9 Answers
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Yes, that idea was something I came up with first. But I'm wondering now if when it's 'things=uncountable noun', it's usually 'things are the uncountable' or 'things is the uncountable'.
Or do you have any idea when to use which, MM?
Or do you have any idea when to use which, MM?
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I don't quite get your question, Taka. Do you mean the word 'things'? In that case, it is a singular word: 'Things' is uncountable.
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I don't quite get your question, Taka. Do you mean the word 'things'? In that case, it is a singular word: 'Things' is uncountable.
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What I'm asking is, when you have a noun X in the plural as a subject and an uncountable noun Y as a complement, is it always 'X is Y' as the sentence in question? Or is it usually 'X are Y' but in some cases 'X is Y'? If the answer is the latter, what cases are they where it has to be 'X is Y'?
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Taka:
I think it would always be X is Y. The subject will always be a certain quantity of the non-count predicate noun. See these examples:
Six weeks is a long time to wait for a letter.
Three grains is not much rice.
Five gallons is enough gas to fill the tank.
I think it would always be X is Y. The subject will always be a certain quantity of the non-count predicate noun. See these examples:
Six weeks is a long time to wait for a letter.
Three grains is not much rice.
Five gallons is enough gas to fill the tank.
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Your examples, as the one I presented first is, are all about certain quantities. But that doesn't mean every 'X (countable noun)=Y(uncountable noun)' has to be 'X is Y', or does it?
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Probably not-- no stricture seems to be 100% in English, but I tried to think of an exception and could not come up with a decent one.
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Probably not-- no stricture seems to be 100% in English, but I tried to think of an exception and could not come up with a decent one.
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TakaWhat I'm asking is, when you have a noun X in the plural as a subject and an uncountable noun Y as a complement, is it always 'X is Y' as the sentence in question? Or is it usually 'X are Y' but in some cases 'X is Y'? If the answer is the latter, what cases are they where it has to be 'X is Y'?Well I cannot think of
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AlpheccaStarsa Y (mass noun) as the complement,I'm thinking about it more broadly, AS; not only mass nouns; non-count nouns in general.
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