When referring to a financial statements document of a company, should it be treated as a singular or plural noun phrase?
Should I say, 'This financial statements includes...' or 'These financial statements include...'?
Thank you.
Add a comment
|
2 Answers
Plural.
- These - demonstrative determiner
- Financial - adjective
- Statements - noun
The noun is "statements" and is plural. Financial is simply an adjective describing the noun. Therefore the article should be plural, "these".
- Articles (a, the) express specificity of a noun
- Demonstratives (this, these) require a reference to refer to the object
- Quantifiers (all, few) point out how much or how little is being indicated
- Possessives (their, my) indicates belonging
answered Apr 15, 2018 at 12:09
-
A small point: the definite article is "the". "These" is a plural demonstrative determinative, here functioning as a determiner. The demonstratives are "this, these, that, those"– BillJApr 15, 2018 at 12:22
-
I agree with @BillJ, and the determiner should agree in number with the noun it determines. I'll upvote your answer as soon as you edit it. Apr 15, 2018 at 12:25
-
Financial statements is a term that usually refers not merely to a number of statements, but rather to a number of different kinds of statements. To treat the term as having a singular referent shows ignorance not only of English grammar but also of financial practice.
