Timeline for Plurality in "A second set of motors [is/are] attached there"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Oct 14, 2023 at 12:41 | comment | added | Jason Patterson | Very late to the game, but I feel like the singular vs plural in this is entirely based on the focus of the speaker. Suppose that the preceding text had carefully described how and where 10 motors were installed on the left side of a machine, then it moves to the right. "A second set of motors are attached here." We've got 10 more motors to worry about. If instead the motors are part of an assembly that attaches easily on one spot, and the text described how that assembly was installed on the left, then moves right. "A second set of motors is attached here." As is so often true, context! | |
| May 6, 2021 at 9:09 | comment | added | rjpond | Additionally, a highly knowledgeable commenter commented "set can be plural when it refers to a plural thing, just like any other collective noun in English" at ell.stackexchange.com/questions/68977/… . Besides, as a native speaker, my intuition, too, is that "set" can be treated as plural. | |
| May 6, 2021 at 9:06 | comment | added | rjpond | @gonefishin'again. We each have our own idiolect, but - for example - btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2guides/guides/wrtps/… agrees "set" is a collective n. that can take pl., & see ons.gov.uk/methodology/methodologicalpublications/… ; met.rdg.ac.uk/radar/experiments.html ; kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEnotes/articles/general-articles/2014/… | |
| May 6, 2021 at 8:52 | comment | added | DoneWithThis. | I heartily disagree that "a set" can take the plural, even though team/company/government etc can. | |
| May 5, 2021 at 19:48 | comment | added | Tim Sparkles | Upvoted for addressing the "two sets" issue. It doesn't matter how many sets exist; you're only referring to one of them. If you were to say "Both the first and second set of motors are attached there", "are" would be correct, because you're referring to multiple sets. | |
| May 5, 2021 at 19:09 | comment | added | Nick Kennedy | This webpage from the BBC is helpful here. However, it suggests that because of the use of the indefinite article ‘a’, we would more commonly use a singular verb. Certainly to me (a British English speaker), ‘is’ sounds more natural here. | |
| May 5, 2021 at 7:22 | history | edited | rjpond | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 20 characters in body
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| May 5, 2021 at 7:17 | history | answered | rjpond | CC BY-SA 4.0 |