Notional agreement

§ 66. Notional agreement is to be found in the following cases:

1. In modern English agreement there may be a conflict between form and meaning. It refers first of all to subjects expressed by nouns of multitude (see § 176, II), which may denote plurality being singular in form. In such cases the principle of grammatical agreement is not observed and there appears the so-called notional agreement, when the choice of the number is based on the fact whether the group of beings is considered as one whole or, as a collection of individuals taken separately (as discrete ones).

Thus the nouns of multitude (band, board, crew, committee, crowd, company, clergy, cattle, family, gang, group, guard, gentry, infantry, jury, militia, police, poultry, team) may have both a plural verb-predicate and a singular one depending on what is meant - a single undivided body or a group of separate individuals.

A new government has been formed.

The government have asked me to go, so I am leaving now.

It was now nearly eleven о'clock and the congregation were arriving...

The congregation was small.

How are your family?

Our family has always been a very happy one.

The commanding officer does not know where his cavalry is and his cavalry are not completely sure of

their situation.

The crowd was enormous.

The crowd were silent.

The police is already informed.

I don’t know what the police are doing.

The cattle is in the mountains.

The cattle have stopped grazing. They know before you hear any sound that planes are approaching.

The jury decides whether the accused is guilty or not.

While the jury were out, some of the public went out for a breath of fresh air.

2. Subjects expressed by nouns denoting measure, weight, time, etc., have a singular verb-predicate when the statement is made about the whole amount, not about the discrete units.

Ten years is a long time.

Another five minutes goes by.

A million francs is a lot of money.

3. Notional agreement is also observed with subjects expressed by word-groups including nouns of quantity: a/the number of..., a/the majority of..., (a) part of..., the bulk of..., a variety of.... These admit of either a singular or a plural verb-predicate.

The number (количество) of pages in this book isn’t large.

It was Sunday and a number (многие) of people were walking about. In Elisabeth’s reign the bulk of English vegetable supplies were imported from Holland.

4. Subjects expressed by such invariable plural nouns as goods (товар, товары), contents (содержание, содержимое), riches (богатство, богатства), clothes (одежда), wages (зарплата), eaves (карниз крыши) have a plural verb.

His wages were only 15 shillings a week.

I asked her what the contents were about.

His clothes were shabby.

The goods were delivered on time.

5. Subjects expressed by such invariable singular nouns as hair, money, gate, information (сведения), funeral (похороны), progress (успехи), advice have a singular verb-predicate. These are called “singularia tantum” “всегда единственное число», as they have no plural.

Her hair is beautiful.

The money is mine.

The gate is open.

The information was unusually interesting.

If the funeral is so detestable to you, you don’t have to go to it.

The corresponding Russian nouns used as subjects are either plural invariables (деньги, ворота, похороны) or have both the singular and the plural forms (совет - советы, новость - новости).

6. Subjects expressed by invariable nouns ending in -s (“pluralia tantum” «всегда множественное число») and denoting an indivisible notion or thing have a singular verb-predicate: measles (корь), mumps (свинка), billiards, dominoes, linguistics, economics, news, headquarters (штаб), works (завод).

No news is good news.

The new works that has been built in our district is very large.

Though nouns in -ics which are names of sciences and other abstract notions have a singular agreement when used in their abstract sense; they may have a plural verb-predicate when denoting qualities, practical applications, different activities, etc. (ethics – “moral rules”, gymnastics – “physical exercises”). Thus these nouns may be followed by either a singular or a plural verb.

statistics

a branch of science collected numbers, figures representing facts

Statistics is a rather modern branch of mathematics.

These statistics show deaths per 1,000 of population.

Statistics on this subject are available,

tactics

the art of arranging military forces for battle methods

Tactics is one of the subjects studied in military academies.

Your tactics are obvious. Please, don’t insult my intelligence.

politics

a profession political affairs, political ideas

Politics is a risky profession.

Politics have always interested me.

What are your politics?

ceramics

the art of making bricks, pots, etc. articles produced in this way

Ceramics is my hobby.

Where he lives isn’t the provinces as far as ceramics are concerned, it’s the metropolis.

7. Subjects expressed by substantivized adjectives denoting groups of people (the blind, the dumb and deaf, the eminent, the mute, the old, the poor, the rich, etc.) always take the plural verb-predicate.

He did not look an important personage, but the emminent rarely do.

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