The Majority or A Majority+ singular/plural verb????

[apoorva.srivastva]

hii all,

kindly help me in getting answers to these:

The majority of students is/are smart.
The majority of physics students is/are smart.

A majority of students is/are smart.
A majority of physics students is/are smart.

A majority of railway commuters reads or listens to music while traveling.
The majority of railway commuters reads or listens to music while traveling.

IS THE USE OF PLRALS SOMETHINF TO DO WITH THE USE OF ARTICLES "A" OR "THE"...PRETTY MUCH CONFUSED

KINDLY HELP IN GETTING THESE SUBJECT - VERB AGREEMENT ANSWERS.


WITH REGARDS,
APOORVA



[/b]

[esledge]

Majority can be either singular or plural; it depends on the context. You could mean the students as a group (singular), or the many individual students (plural). As a rule of thumb, the article often indicates the intended meaning. "The" usually indicates singular, while "a" usually indicates plural.

Consider the difference between:
(1) A majority of the students are expected to vote in the class election. (Many individuals will vote.)
(2) The majority of students is expected to vote against the currect class president. (A singular block of voters will vote a certain way.)

Following these guidelines, here are your sentences with the correct verb choice:

The majority of students is smart.
The majority of physics students is smart.
(Those sound weird to me, frankly. I prefer "The student majority is smart" but since "student majority" is the same thing as "majority of students," the above is correct.)

A majority of students are smart.
A majority of physics students are smart.

A majority of railway commuters read or listen to music while traveling.
The majority of railway commuters reads or listens to music while traveling.

[Guest]

Majority can be either singular or plural; it depends on the context. You could mean the students as a group (singular), or the many individual students (plural). As a rule of thumb, the article often indicates the intended meaning. "The" usually indicates singular, while "a" usually indicates plural.

Consider the difference between:
(1) A majority of the students are expected to vote in the class election. (Many individuals will vote.)
(2) The majority of students is expected to vote against the currect class president. (A singular block of voters will vote a certain way.)

Following these guidelines, here are your sentences with the correct verb choice:

The majority of students is smart.
The majority of physics students is smart.
(Those sound weird to me, frankly. I prefer "The student majority is smart" but since "student majority" is the same thing as "majority of students," the above is correct.)

A majority of students are smart.
A majority of physics students are smart.

A majority of railway commuters read or listen to music while traveling.
The majority of railway commuters reads or listens to music while traveling.

Hi ,


Thanks for the informations

In edition 2 MGMAT Sentence correction,

A majority of railway commuters reads or listens to music while traveling

Additonally, MGMAT edition 3 has a statement

"The majority of the students in this class are hard workers"

so, which rule is correct? The one mentioned above or the statement(s) mentioned in MGMAT SC2 and SC edition 3

Iamcste

[esledge]

Thanks for throwing this back to me, giving me a chance to correct my mistake. Here goes:

On their own, "a majority" is typically plural and "the majority" is typically singular.
Of this year's graduating class, a majority will attend college. (plural)
The majority rules. (singular)

However, when "majority" is followed by a modifier, usually of the form "of things," that rule of thumb does not apply. That was my mistake above.

Here are the correct sentences:

The majority of students are smart.
A majority of students are smart.
The majority of physics students are smart.
A majority of physics students are smart.
{In other words, "a" or "the" doesn’t matter in this case. The verb should match the plural "students."}

A majority of railway commuters read or listen to music while traveling.
The majority of railway commuters read or listen to music while traveling.
{Plural verbs to match plural "commuters."}

I'll quote myself here:

The majority of students is smart.
The majority of physics students is smart.
(Those sound weird to me, frankly. I prefer "The student majority is smart" but since "student majority" is the same thing as "majority of students," the above is correct.)

The fact that it sounded weird should have been a clue! Notice that my ear told me that the only way to use a singular verb is to rearrange so that "the (student) majority" was not followed by an "of" prepositional phrase! That's the only way you can rely on the rule that "the majority" is singular.

One exception: "the majority" may require a plural verb even when not followed by an "of things" IF an "of things" is implied earlier in the sentence.
The customers of Ye Olde Ice Cream Shoppe have voted, and the majority prefer waffle cones.
(It is implied that "the majority of customers prefer...."

In summary:
a majority" by itself-->plural
"the majority" by itself--> usually singular, unless an "of things" modifier is implied earlier in the sentence.
""the/a majority of things"-->plural, like the things

[AnupritaM283]

Does this rule apply to (The/A) Number?

Meaning --> Usually The Number is singular and A Number is plural by itself.

What if it is used with The number of things?

[RonPurewal]

so, basically, you have two options here:

1/
try to memorize a seemingly endless cascade of rules;

2/
think in very simple terms about what the sentence actually says.

i like #2.

here's the deal:

• if the sentence gives information about the NUMBER, then singular (because "number" is singular).

• if the sentence gives information about the THINGS, then plural (because "things" is plural).
in this case, "a number of things" is grammatically identical to "100 things".

[RonPurewal]

examples:

The number of people moving to Florida has grown every year.
(this is information about the number. what grew? the number did. obviously the people themselves didn't grow.)

A number of people who have moved to Florida find that they actually miss winter weather.
(this is information about the people. who misses winter? the people do. numbers don't have emotions.)