麻豆淫院

Linguists and students alike are taught that the verb agrees with the subject, but is this always true?

Evi Judge
Course: Semantics (LING 3540)
Advisor: Professor Zygmunt Frajzyngier
LURA 2021

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Huddleston and Pullum (2005) write 鈥渢he verb agrees with the subject鈥� (p. 31), and for quantificational nouns 鈥渢he form of the verb depends on the 鈥� NP [noun phrase] that is complement to the preposition of 鈥� where 鈥淸t]he meaning of number is such that the embedded NP must be plural鈥� (p. 89). Thus, the conclusion that Huddleston and Pullum draw is that the verb agreeing with quantificational NPs must agree with the plural complement of the quantificational noun.

Provided this claim about verb agreement, the following phenomenon becomes a puzzle:

a) 听听 听the number of X is

b)听听 听the number of X are

c) 听听 听a number of X is

d)听听 听a number of X are

Note, that the above X denotes any countable noun (e.g. people, books, cats, etc.). The aim of this article is to briefly explore the role of the copula and the articles used with the phrase 鈥渘umber of X鈥�. In the phrases 鈥渢he number of X鈥� and 鈥渁 number of X鈥� both the singular and plural form of the copular verb 鈥榖e鈥� seem to be used. The question then is whether or not one form of the copula is preferred over the other form. To study this 鈥渁greement preference鈥�, the frequency of each phrase was recorded from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). Based on the frequency tokens of each phrase, in the following, I will propose a tentative hypothesis for copular agreement as an independent coding means. The following frequencies were recorded from COCA:

a) 听听 听the number of X is | 702 frequency tokens

b)听听 听the number of X are | 54 frequency tokens

c) 听听 听a number of X is | 46 frequency tokens

d)听听 听a number of X are | 624 frequency tokens

The evidence that (a) and (d) are the most frequently occurring forms contradicts the proposal that verbs agree with their subject. Furthermore, this contradiction of copular agreement raises another issue鈥攏amely, does the copula or the determiner code what the head and modifier of a quantificational NP is?

The preference for phrases containing 鈥榯he鈥�, as in 鈥渢he number of X鈥�, to take 鈥榠s鈥� stems from the head being 鈥渢he number鈥�. This is due to the word 鈥榥umber鈥� being singular, indicating that the copula would also prefer to be singular (i.e. to take the form 鈥榠s鈥�). The modifier in the phrase 鈥渢he number of X鈥� is in fact 鈥渙f X鈥�. 鈥渙f X鈥� merely specifies what 鈥渢he number鈥� refers to. Without the modifier, one would be liable to ask, 鈥淭he number of what?鈥�.

This is the opposite from phrases containing the indefinite article 鈥榓鈥欌�攁s in, 鈥渁 number of X鈥濃�攚here the head of such a phrase is 鈥渙f X鈥� and the modifier is 鈥渁 number鈥�. Since the object of the preposition will be plural, Huddleston and Pullum鈥檚 rule that the following verb will be plural applies. The impact of having the whole phrase "number of X" with either determiner 'the' or 'a' is essential for making sense of what is being said. If either part of the phrase "a/the number" or X-alone was stated, one may expect a wh-word question. For example, if one were to state, "Wow, the number has really shot up." The response may be, "What shot up? (Number of what?)" Likewise, if one were to say, "Testing sites have really expanded." Another person may ask, "How many testing sites have expanded?" These scenarios illustrate the dependency of the components in the phrase "number of X"鈥攔egardless of the determiner used, 'number' aims to describe something, that something being X. And X, while it can stand alone as a noun, needs the context of 'number' to describe a quantity. 听

The above analysis contradicts Huddleston and Pullum鈥檚 proposal in two ways: 1) the complement of the NP dictates the (following) copula's form, and 2) the determiner codes the head and complement within an NP. I have addressed the issue posed in (1), as the preferred copular change witnessed between 鈥渢he number of X is鈥� and 鈥渁 number of X are鈥� disproves that X鈥檚 plurality will predict the copula's form. The proposition in statement (2) is more difficult to tease apart.

What then, in these phrases, is the role of the article? Examine the following:

a) 听听 听The number of testing sites is expanding.

b)听听 听The number of testing sites are expanding.

c) 听听 听A number of testing sites is expanding.

d)听听 听A number of testing sites are expanding.

If one were to omit the copula (鈥榠s鈥� or 鈥榓re鈥�) in all of the sentences above, one would not be able to discern what is 鈥渆xpanding鈥� in the sentence. The copula, not the determiner, provides this information. Sentences in the form of (a) and (d) are preferred because the copula is less ambiguous in those sentences; whereas, in sentences (b) and (c), I suggest that the meaning of the sentence (i.e. what is expanding) is less easy to decipher. Furthermore, I propose that the meaning in sentence (b) is more akin to sentence (d) due to the use of 鈥榓re鈥�, and it follows that sentence (c) is more akin to sentence (a) because of 鈥榠s鈥�.

Huddleston and Pullum (2002) state that the indefinite article, when preceding 鈥榥umber鈥�, indicates number-transparency (p. 350); however, when the definite article is used before 鈥榥umber鈥�, a non-transparent number (i.e. a precise number) is understood. Thus, one is able to substitute a precise number in for the phrase 鈥渢he number of 鈥濃�攁nd if performed on sentence (b), the sentence would become 鈥淔ive testing sites are expanding鈥� further support the idea that (b) codes the same meaning as sentence (d), only (d) has some indeterminate amount of testing sites expanding.

The conclusion: verb agreement is not solely driven by the preceding subject. The articles 鈥榓鈥� and 鈥榯he鈥� do affect verb agreement. This analysis supports the claim that verb agreement is an independent coding means (Frajzyngier, 1997).

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References

Davies, M. (2005). Retrieved November 15, 2020, from
Frajzyngier, Zygmunt. 1997c. Pronouns and agreement: systems interaction in the coding of听reference. Atomism and binding. ed by. Hans Benis, Pierre Pica, and Johan Rooryck.听1997. Dordrecht: Foris, 115-140.
Huddleston, R. D., & Pullum, G. K. (2005). A Student's Introduction to English Grammar.听Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 13-14, 37, 82-92.
Huddleston, R. D., & Pullum, G. K. (2002). Nouns and noun phrases. In The Cambridge听Grammar of the English language (pp. 326-340). Cambridge: Cambridge University听Press.