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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

The rich "are" ? or The rich "is" ?

Can you ever say "The rich is not always happy." ?

Thanks in advance.
  

Top answer

I can't imagine how it could work. Perhaps something like, "There are two friends, rich and poor. " Naw.

— Avangi

  • I can't imagine how it could work.
  • Perhaps something like, "There are two friends, rich and poor.
  • " Naw.
  • That won't work.
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6 Answers
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I can't imagine how it could work. Perhaps something like, "There are two friends, rich and poor. The rich is never happy and the poor is never sad." Naw. That won't work.
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I can think of only one such expression that can refer to one person or more: The deceased was/were buried yesterday. However, a singular verb is required if the reference isn't to people:

The impossible fascinates him. (= Impossible things fascinate him.)

CB
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Hi, CB.

I keep coming back to the well-know quote by that world-class statesman, Henry the K. The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional sometimes takes a little longer. This too could refer to one thing or multiple things.

Edit. Boy, I'm having a bad day! "The illegal" isn't even the subject! (Ha. But "the unconstitutional" is. - take / takes ) No,
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Hi,
Ican think of only one such expression that can refer to one person or more: The deceased was/were buried yesterday.

How about 'The accused was/were found guilty'?

Clive
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CliveHi,
How about 'The accused was/were found guilty'?

Hi Clive

Yes, of course you know as well as I do that your sentence is correct. I think I chose the wrong expression in my previous post. My intention was to say that only one such word came to my mind at that moment. I certainly didn't intend to claim there were no others.
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