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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > the rest of .... - singular or plural?
the rest of .... - singular or plural?
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jarrus
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the rest of .... - singular or plural?
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Hello,
Could you explain me the rules related to "the rest"? Is it plural or singular e.g. "The rest of my holidays were or was fantastic?"Thanks for help.
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22 Mar 2011
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essam35
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the rest is sing. because it is you speak about it as one unit
the rest of my holiday was so exciting only few days were horrible
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22 Mar 2011
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Tim Wallace
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the problem lies in the word "holidays" as a plural. Compare "the rest of my holiday was fantastic" and "the rest of my holidays were fantastic". If you use the plural, then to say "the rest of my holidays" is to say you still had, say, a quarter of your holidays left and, so, you are talking about a plural. In that case you would be correctly using "were". Holidays plural or holiday singular are both commonly used and so forget about the fact that "the rest of" suggests a singular.
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22 Mar 2011
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moravc
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I am not sure about "the rest of my holidays were", but I have heard "the rest of my friends WERE (at home) " quite often, so I suppose it is possible to write "the rest of my holidays were".
It sounds ok to me.
The rest of the holiday was ok.
The rest of the film was horrible. The rest of the story was fun...
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22 Mar 2011
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libertybelle
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I think we say-the remainder of my holiday was fantastic.
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22 Mar 2011
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libertybelle
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I think we say-the remainder of my holiday was fantastic.
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22 Mar 2011
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dturner
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As soon as Tim explained, Bang! It made sense. Please go with his explanation. I would have naturally said "were" because it sounds correct to my brain/ears. However, as Tim explained, the nuance is slightly different.dt
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23 Mar 2011
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yanogator
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Yes, Tim is right. It all depends on the word after "of". The rest of the students were quiet. The rest of the hotel rooms were reserved. The rest of my sandwich was eaten by the dog. The rest of my report was very boring. Bruce |
23 Mar 2011
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