English language question: a number of + .... (singular or plural)

[VJ]

Hello,

Again a simple language question. If I start a sentence with "a number of ...", does the sentence continue in singular or in plural?

So: "a number of people are ..." or "a number of people is ..." ?


Thanks!


Jörg

[Fat Tone]

are

[VJ]

Just what I thought!
(which makes it 2-0 for me )

Thanks!


Jörg

[Jammrock]

are... but not becaue of 'numbers,' because of 'people.' People is the noun with which the plurality of the setence is modified by (probably not the correct terminology, but it sounded cool and is correct).

[Fat Tone]

NP. Your English is better than most of the native speakers on here already

[Fat Tone]

@Jamm - if it wasn't a collective noun then you'd have to use a plural anyway. Eg 'a number of ducks are floating on the pond'.

[VJ]

Aha... Well, the original sentence is
"A number of properties are..."

Jörg

[Jammrock]

@Jamm - if it wasn't a collective noun then you'd have to use a plural anyway. Eg 'a number of ducks are floating on the pond'.

Ah, but that sentence is plural even without 'number'. "Ducks are floating in the pond." But you can't say the same thing with "number," as it is a verb (I think) in this case. Thus the phrase is plural due to the noun, as is the rule I'm told, and has nothing to do with the word 'number' itself.

[Brian Ellis]

Not as simple as that. 'A number of ducks are floating on the pond' is plural. 'The number of ducks floating on the pond is up this year' is singular. It depends on whether it is the number or ducks which is the subject of the sentence. The number doesn't float, and the ducks aren't up this year. You must take it in context.

[cjolley]

In fact you could say "A number of ducks is floating on the water."

But it would mean that the ducks were formed into a number somehow.
This seems unlikely.

[Fat Tone]

This is getting quackers.

[dshumake]

The original sentence, "a number of ...", is requires are as the verb. The noun for that sentence is number while of starts the prepositional phrase.

If the sentence was:

A number of ducks are floating on the water.
The number of ducks is floating on the water.

Both sentences are correct due the usage of the article being indefinite (plural) or definite (singular).

[Gurm]

The original sentence, "a number of ...", is requires are as the verb. The noun for that sentence is number while of starts the prepositional phrase.

If the sentence was:

A number of ducks are floating on the water.
The number of ducks is floating on the water.

Both sentences are correct due the usage of the article being indefinite (plural) or definite (singular).

Actually you'd never say "The number of ducks is floating on the water."

(Go ahead, try to contrive some complex ridiculous way in which that works...)

However, you are correct. "A number" in that case is a plural subject. "The number" would be a singular subject. "of ducks" is indeed a prepositional phrase.