What would you choose?: Is/Is, Is/Are, Are/Is, or Are/Are?

Via the Language Log comes a question worthy of Sunday dinner conversation: how would you complete each of the following sentences?

1. The poll shows that a majority of people         against the war.
   1. The poll shows that a majority of people is against the war.
   2. The poll shows that a minority of people are against the war.
2. The poll shows that a minority of people         against the war.
   1. The poll shows that a minority of people is against the war.
   2. The poll shows that a minority of people are against the war.

Readers were invited to participate in an online poll. This week the results are in and I'm happy to report that I is not in the minority... ;-)

How did I answer?

I chose are to complete the first sentence without hesitation. Both readings, "(a majority of) people are" and "a majority (of people) are" work for me.

Initially I wavered slightly in my commitment to are for the second sentence, but in the end decided that I liked it better as "(a minority of) people are" instead of "a minority (of people) is" (tolerable but rough sounding).

If you are curious about other peoples justifications be sure to check out both comment threads. Microsoft Word would tell me I'm wrong (in both cases) apparently.

—Michael A. Cleverly
Wednesday, August 16, 2006 at 19:45

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