7.20 Collective nouns

1. 7.20 Collective nouns BY DR. BUSHRA NI’MA

2. 7.20 Collective nouns ♦ In Br. Eng., collective nouns such as (government) are often treated as pl.: The government have broken all their promises. • As is shown, not only by the plural verb have bur also by the pronoun their. • The principle of "proximity" denotes agreement of the verb with a noun or pronoun that

3. closely precedes it in preference to agreement with the head of the noun phrase : • No one except his own supporters agree with him. – One in ten take drugs. ♦ In Br. Eng., grammatically singular collective nouns are treated as notionally plural if the group is considered as a collection of individuals. 1– The audience were enjoying every minutes of it.

4. 2 – England have won the cup. ♦ Sing. and pl. verbs are more or less interchangeable in the contexts of 1 and 2, but sing. has to be used in sentences like ( The audience was enormous), where the group is being considered as a single undivided body. But in Am Eng., grammatically singular collective nouns are generally treated as singular, especially when they refer to (government) and (sport teams).

5. Note: Some latitude is allowed in the interpretation of abstract nouns since it is not always easy to decide if they represent one quality or two: • Your fairness and impartiality has/have been much appreciated. Note: 1) Asyndetic coordination (without a coordinator): • His camera, his radio, his money were confiscated by the customs

6. officials. 2) Subject noun phrases may be linked by quasi- coordinators, i.e. such as (along with, rather than, and as well as) that are semantically similar to coordinators. Grammatical concord requires a singular verb if the first noun phrase is singular. إذا كانت العبارة الاسمية الأولى مفردة يكون الفعل مفرد رغم وجود روابط تقريبية (أشباه روابط) بين العبارات الاسمية. – -The ambassador-and perhaps his wife too-is likely to be present.

7. ♦ The same grammatical rule applies when the second phrase is negative, whether or not linked by and, though here the principle of notional concord reinforces the use of the singular. نطبق نفس القانون على الجملة التي تتكون من عبارات اسمية وتكون العبارة الاسمية الثانية منفية, بغض النظر فيما إذا كانت العبارة مربوطة بأداة الربط and - The prime minister, (and) not the monarch decides government policy.

8. Note: A sing. noncount noun head with coordinate premodifiers may imply two (or more) separate sentences. It may be followed by a pl. verb. – American and Dutch Beer are (both) much lighter than British beer. Premodifiers (1) (2) [ American beer is … and Dutch beer is ]

9. ♦ The same phenomenon occurs with relative clauses: • What I say and do are my own affair. [ What I say is … and what I do is ] Note:A sing. verb is required when the phrases are post modifying. – Beer from America and the Netherlandsis much lighter than British beer. Post modifiers

10. [ Beer that comes from America and the Netherlands is …] 7.23 Concord occurring with either … or and whether: When the subject of a sentence is a clause or a phrase involving (either … or), the verb can take both the sing. or the pl. form in depending on the number of the NP after (or).

11. إذا كان الفاعل موجود في الجملة او شبه الجملة التي تحتوي على either …or فان الفعل إما ان يكون مفرد او جمع معتمدا على عدد الجمل الاسمية التي بعد or The same can be said about (whether) which could also occur with a pl. verb too in addition to the occurrence of the sing. verb depending on the lexical features of the NP in question or when there is some kind of ambiguity on the semantic level which has a reflection on the syntactic level.

12. Consider the following ex. : 1- Either the Vice-Chancellor or his assistant has the answer. 2- Either the Vice-Chancellor or his assistants have the answer. 3- Either she or her mother is the teacher. 4- Either she or her sisters are the teachers. 5- Either the father or the son is the winner. 6- Either the father or his sons are the winners.

13. 7- It does not matter whether she or her sister has won the prize. 8- It does not matter whether she or her sisters won the prize. 9- It does not make any difference whether two or one lecture is given. 10- It does not make any difference whether a lecture or two are given.

14. ♦ Neither… nor, which is the corresponding negative of either… or behave similarly: 11- Neither he nor his wife has arrived. neither… nor, are treated more like andforconcord: • Neither he nor his wife have arrived. وبما اننا نهتم باللغة الرسمية formal لذلك فنحن نتبع المثال الاول وهو الافضل: - Neither she nor her sons have arrived.

15. ♦ More than functions similarly, i.e. occurs with both forms (the sing. as well as the pl.) 1- More than one person has objected the new law. 2 – More than two million people have protested against the new oppressive laws. 3- More than a thousand teacher has refused to sign the form. ♦↑In the above examples where the sing. form of a verb is used, grammatical number

16. concord is applied. This is because the subject is sing. but when the pl. form of a verb is used, the concord in this case is notional concord where the speaker and /or the hearer interprets or understands the subject as pl. . This is due to the fact that the NP is a collective one or it notionally suggests so. ♦ When or is used for coordinative apposition, grammatical concord requires the verb to agree in number with the first appositive

17. 1- Gobbledygook, or the circumlocutions of bureaucratic language is intentionally difficult to understand. 2- The circumlocutions of bureaucratic language, or gobbledygook, are intentionally difficult to understand. 7.24 Indefinite expressions as subject: ♦ some indefinite pronouns and determiners have both non-count and count uses. With non-count nouns (present or implied), the verb is sing.

18. 1- Some (of the cement) is arriving later day. 2- So far no moneyhas been spent on repairs. ♦ With pl. nouns (present or implied) the verb is pl. . 1- No people of that name live here. 2- Some (of the books) are being placed on the shelves today. ♦ The pronoun either and neither generally take a sing. verb: • The two guests have arrived { and either / but neither } is welcome.