manu11 wrote:
1. Most of the people
have given favorable response to the recently released movie
A. have given
B. has given
I was going through this question in
e-GMAT Verbal course and have a question related
Subject is preceded by "Most" , hence verb depends on the subject preceding it. Subject in this case is "People" which is a collective noun and hence the verb must be singular.
However, Answer is "Have given" and by logic i know it should be "have given" , but the rules i studied disagree.
Am i missing on anything??
manu11 , good instincts.
People is a rare kind of collective noun. "People" is generally plural and takes a plural verb.
According to
Oxford Dictionary online, here,Quote:
two collective nouns are almost never singular: police and people.
There are one or two collective nouns that cannot be used with either a singular or a plural verb. The most notable are police and people: both of them must always be used with a plural verb:
✓ By and large the police do a good job.
✗ By and large the police does a good job
✓ People are beginning to ask questions.
✗ People is beginning to ask questions.
According to some sources, occasionally
people is singular.
This site describes a couple of rare instances in which people is singular,, but when people means "many persons," then "people" is plural.
A
Manhattan Prep instructor wrote,
HERE:
People is lazy. (singular verb)
Correct:People are lazy. (Plural verb)
Your example with the plural verb is correct:
Most of the people
have given favorable response to the recently released movie.
So the "most of the" rule stands.
But
people is a plural, not singular, noun.
Hope that helps.