Grammar check,,Many of them are or is?
By CrimsonSpork
@Manasha (2933)
Pondicherry, India
October 25, 2012 1:14am CST
If we use the word MANY what would be the verb form while writing a sentence
Many of them are willing to go.
Many of them is willing to go.,
which is correct form of wring?
2 responses
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
25 Oct 12
'Many' (and 'few') are adjectives (even when the noun is assumed and not stated). They are used to describe a NUMBER of things (indefinite, always implying more than one and a subset of the whole), therefore they are always PLURAL.
"Many dogs are infected with rabies"
"Many [people] are called but few are chosen."
It can also be used as a noun (for example, "the many" as opposed to "the few") or in the expression "many of the people were afraid". It is always plural.
@Manasha (2933)
• Pondicherry, India
25 Oct 12
so it is correct to say
Many of them are willing to attend the function.
@Manasha (2933)
• Pondicherry, India
25 Oct 12
Can we add is with the following sentences.
Six hours of sleep is never enough for me.
Five miles is a long way to walk to school.
whether we shall add are after six hours of sleep are never enough
five miles are long way.....
few hours of work is hard
or few hours of work are hard
I need clarification for the above sentences
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
25 Oct 12
All of these refer to a single thing, entity or quantity taken as a whole - 'sleep', 'way', 'work' - so it is usually more correct to use the singular.
"Five miles are a long way" and "A few hours of work are hard" are definitely incorrect. Both "Six hours of sleep is not enough" and "Six hours of sleep are not enough" are frequently seen (perhaps equally often) but the correct form is the singular unless one is referring to the hours as individual entities collectively (as '[all of] the six hours', for example).
"The lecture lasted for 36 minutes, all of which were boring." is grammatically correct but rather poor English because the focus is changed from 'the lecture' (a single thing) to 'the minutes' (a plural quantity) without proper warning and without good reason - does anyone realistically count the minutes and say 'this one was interesting and the others were not'?.
@DoctorDidi (7018)
• India
25 Oct 12
'Many of them are willing to go' is the grammatically correct form of the sentence as 'many' means more than 'one' and so the verb should be in the plural form. But I would here add one thing for your kind information that when you use 'a' after many, then the verb should be in the singular form. For example,'Many boys are going to visit the fair' but when you use 'a' after 'many', then the verb should be in the singular form and the correct form of the sentence should be ' Many a boy is going to visit the fair'.
