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Singular Or Plural

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vivgmat
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Singular Or Plural [#permalink] New post   03 Mar 2011, 12:17
Hi there, I'm a little confused with the Subject over here.

A majority of commuters reads or listens to music while traveling.

"A majority of commuters" is singular or plural?
Kindly, explain.

"The majority of the students" in the class ARE hard workers.
"The majority of the students" == Plural

Also,
The student majority IS opposed to the punishment.
"The student majority"== Singular

So, I think "A majority of commuters" should be Plural?
Is it?

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Re: Singular Or Plural [#permalink] New post   04 Mar 2011, 14:17
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MeinKampf wrote:
Hi there, I'm a little confused with the Subject over here.

A majority of commuters reads or listens to music while traveling.

"A majority of commuters" is singular or plural?
Kindly, explain.

"The majority of the students" in the class ARE hard workers.
"The majority of the students" == Plural

Also,
The student majority IS opposed to the punishment.
"The student majority"== Singular

So, I think "A majority of commuters" should be Plural?
Is it?

yes it is plural because 'commuters' is plural. if the noun was sungular then the subj would be singular.
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Re: Singular Or Plural [#permalink] New post   06 Mar 2011, 13:14
Eliminate portion after of. so a majority is singular.
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Re: Singular Or Plural [#permalink] New post   06 Mar 2011, 22:48
Baten80 wrote:
Eliminate portion after of. so a majority is singular.


Could you please clarify why its singular?
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Re: Singular Or Plural [#permalink] New post   08 Mar 2011, 16:12
majority can be singular or plural, when it is attached to a prepositional phrase. since commuters in the phrase is plural, majority acts as plural in this case.
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Re: Singular Or Plural [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 14 Mar 2011, 03:22
MeinKampf wrote:
Hi there, I'm a little confused with the Subject over here.

A majority of commuters reads or listens to music while traveling.

"A majority of commuters" is singular or plural?
Kindly, explain.

"The majority of the students" in the class ARE hard workers.
"The majority of the students" == Plural

Also,
The student majority IS opposed to the punishment.
"The student majority"== Singular

So, I think "A majority of commuters" should be Plural?
Is it?


It's up to the context of the sentence.

Originally posted by MICKEYXITIN on 14 Mar 2011, 03:20.
Last edited by MICKEYXITIN on 14 Mar 2011, 03:22, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Singular Or Plural [#permalink] New post   14 Mar 2011, 03:21
MeinKampf wrote:
Hi there, I'm a little confused with the Subject over here.

A majority of commuters reads or listens to music while traveling.

"A majority of commuters" is singular or plural?
Kindly, explain.

"The majority of the students" in the class ARE hard workers.
"The majority of the students" == Plural

Also,
The student majority IS opposed to the punishment.
"The student majority"== Singular

So, I think "A majority of commuters" should be Plural?
Is it?


I think in this sentence the verb should be plural.
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Re: Singular Or Plural [#permalink] New post   15 Mar 2011, 21:30
MeinKampf wrote:
Hi there, I'm a little confused with the Subject over here.

A majority of commuters reads or listens to music while traveling.

"A majority of commuters" is singular or plural?
Kindly, explain.

"The majority of the students" in the class ARE hard workers.
"The majority of the students" == Plural

Also,
The student majority IS opposed to the punishment.
"The student majority"== Singular

So, I think "A majority of commuters" should be Plural?




"Many words that mean a group of things — total, majority, and number, for example — can be singular or plural. Sometimes they mean the group acting as a whole, sometimes the members of a group.

"As with the other two-faced words, ask yourself whether you are thinking of the whole or the parts. A little hint: The before the word (the total, the majority) is usually a tip-off that it's singular; while a (a total, a number), especially when of comes after, usually indicates a plural.

[Examples:] The majority is in charge. Still, a majority of voters are unhappy" (https://www.drgrammar.org/frequently-asked-questions O'Conner, Woe Is I 26).
Is it?
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Re: Singular Or Plural [#permalink] New post   25 May 2011, 11:50
The words majority, minority and plurality are either singular or plural, depending on their context. If you want to indicate the many individual parts of the totality, use a plural verb. If you want to indicate the totality itself, use a singular verb.
In the first instance, we are talking of majority as a whole that does some common function. Since we are talking of the majority as a whole, a singular verb is to be used.
In the second case, we are talking of the many students or the strength of individual students. It makes for a case for plural verb.
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Re: Singular Or Plural [#permalink] New post   29 May 2011, 08:10
Neither/Either are similar in that behavior (just as a tip!)

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Re: Singular Or Plural [#permalink]
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