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Ask for help > Grammar - has/have
Grammar - has/have
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alphanumeric
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Grammar - has/have
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Grammar experts help me out, please!
Have a look at the following sentences.
1. A wide variety of structures have been described by scientists.
2. A wide variety of structures has been described by scientists.
Which one is correct? All my instincts tell me that sentence 1 is correct, but it �s doing my head in and I �d appreciate a second opinion.
Thanks!
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15 May 2012
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ashky
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If you are using a variety of before a plural noun, it is better to use a plural verb, although a singular verb is sometimes used:
example 1: A wide variety of structural types is found in marine organisms .
example 2: A variety of techniques were used. |
15 May 2012
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alphanumeric
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Thanks, ashky.
But how about the specific example I used.
Using have sounds better to me. Using has just sounds wrong.
Do you agree?
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15 May 2012
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ashky
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dude, you are right. sometimes you should trust your instinct . |
15 May 2012
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yanogator
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Here �s why you �re confused. Strictly speaking, the subject of your sentence is "variety", which is singular. However, "A wide variety of" is clearly being used here as a descriptive phrase, essentially saying "how many" structures, so "structures" is behaving more like the subject, making "have" the correct choice. Bruce |
15 May 2012
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alphanumeric
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Thanks Bruce! I was secretly hoping you �d weigh in on this :)
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15 May 2012
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CyrillicAlphabet
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The following singular expressions are followed by plural verbs:
a lot of
lots of
a couple of
a number of
a group of
a variety of
plenty of
the rest of
the rest of
This makes the following sentence the correct choice:
1. A wide variety of structures have been described by scientists.
I hope you find this useful.
Best wishes,
CyrillicAlphabet
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15 May 2012
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sarrah mohammed
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what about the article "a" that comes only with a singular noun ? |
15 May 2012
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alphanumeric
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Thanks all. You didn �t disappoint!
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15 May 2012
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