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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
There was or there were
Hi. Which would you use?
There was/were a couple of people at the seminar.
There was/were a minimum of ten students at the student meeting.
There was/were a couple of people at the seminar.
There was/were a minimum of ten students at the student meeting.
Top answer
-- It is a single mininal number; nevertheless, you will see both verb forms used (as you will with your other sentence) because notional concord affects the speaker as well as grammatical concord.
- -- It is a single mininal number; nevertheless, you will see both verb forms used (as you will with your other sentence) because notional concord affects the speaker as well as grammatical concord.
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2 Answers
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There were a couple of people at the seminar.-- 'A couple of' = several
There was a couple waiting at the chapel to get married.-- A couple = one group of 2
There was a minimum of ten students at the student meeting.-- It is a single mininal number; nevertheless, you will see both verb forms used (as you will with your other sentence) becaus
There was a couple waiting at the chapel to get married.-- A couple = one group of 2
There was a minimum of ten students at the student meeting.-- It is a single mininal number; nevertheless, you will see both verb forms used (as you will with your other sentence) becaus
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AnonymousWhich would you use?1. There were a couple of people at the seminar.
2. (Neither.) There were at least ten students at the student meeting.
CJ
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