Sorts of information...are

The Straits Times (Candy Crushed in SundayLife!) - 15 September 2013

The highlighted verb is wrong. The culprit that likely caused the error is the mass noun information. Being right next to the verb, it was probably mistaken as the subject of the sentence.

The correct verb is are:

(1) With technology, all sorts of information are available at my fingertips.

The subject of the sentence is the phrase all sorts of information. The head noun sorts is plural, so a plural verb is needed.

Mistakes like this are so common that if you google the string "sorts of information is", you will get a good many pages of results with exact matches. The two listings below were taken from the first results page:

Google search of "sorts of information is"

One in ten is or are?

Which is the correct verb in the sentence below?

(1) One in ten respondents was/were unhappy with the new rules.

Sometimes the noun is understood and omitted:

(2) One in ten was/were unhappy with the new rules.

Well, it's never an easy answer as both the singular verb and the plural verb have been used in written texts.

Grammatically, the subject of one in Number is one, which is singular and therefore requires a singular verb:

(3) One in ten respondents was unhappy with the new rules.

In formal contexts, the singular verb is less likely to be met with objection.

But, notionally, as others argue, the phrase one in ten respondents refers to not one but some number (of respondents), and therefore requires a plural verb:

(4) One in ten respondents were unhappy with the new rules.

For instance, if there are 500 respondents, one in ten respondents means 50 respondents, a plural sense. This argument is particularly appealing if we use a pronoun test:

(5) One in ten respondents say they do not like the movie.

Sentence (5) uses the plural verb say and the plural pronoun they, both of which (notionally) agree with the plural sense of One in ten respondents.

Contrast (5) with (6) and (7) below:

(6) One in ten respondents says they do not like the movie.
(7) One in ten respondents says he does not like the movie.

In (6), the singular verb says agrees with One but their use is inconsistent with the plural pronoun they.

In (7), the singular says agrees with One but the singular pronoun he is potentially ambiguous as it can be interpreted as referring to someone else other than the head noun One.

That leaves us with sentence (5), which does not suffer from the grammatical inconsistency of (6) and the potential pronoun ambiguity of (7).

So, does that mean we should use the plural verb?

Well, not exactly. As we have hinted at the beginning, there is no clear-cut answer. In formal English, the singular interpretation and hence the singular verb are preferred. The plural verb, while notionally sound, goes against grammar rules and one must be prepared to defend its use.

Number...has

ChannelNewsAsia - 29 June 2013

The plural verb have in the headline is wrong. The noun number in "number of hotspots" refers to a specific number, such as 28, and so requires a singular verb. The correct verb is has, as originally used by PM Lee in the story.

Skips, turns and resists

AsiaOne - 7 June 2013

The verb resist in the headline is not consistent with the two singular verbs skips and turns. The correct verb is resists.

One of the students who...

Which is the correct verb after the relative pronoun who in the sentence below?

(1) One of the students who (was, were) here is John.

Is it was or were?

The answer depends on whether the relative pronoun who refers to students or the head noun One. Accordingly, we can rewrite (1) to illustrate this difference in interpretation:

(2) Of the students, one who was here is John.

(3) Of the students who were here, one is John.

Sentence (2) corresponds to the interpretation in which who refers to the head noune One, and so was is the appropriate verb. Sentence (3) shows that who refers to the plural students, and so were is the appropriate verb.

Interest...drives

ChannelNewsAsia - 5 June 2013

The verb drive in the news headline is wrong. The head noun Interest is singular, so the correct verb is drives.

What does this sentence mean?

What does the following sentence mean to you?

1) I saw the man with a telescope.

Which of the following meanings did you get?

1a) With a telescope, I saw the man.
1b) The man had a telescope and I saw him.

Both readings are reasonably possible, so sentences such as (1) above are said to be syntactically, or structurally, ambiguous because they can be interpreted in more than one way as a result of different underlying structures.

The ambiguity arises because the prepositional phrase with a telescope can modify either the verb saw or the noun phrase the man. Visually, the two possible readings can be represented in tree diagrams:

Reading 1a

Reading 1b

(The tree diagrams were drawn using the software at http://mshang.ca/syntree/)

Structurally ambiguous sentences are not ungrammatical, but they can csuse unnecessary confusion and misinterpretation.

The following is an example of an ambiguous sentence I came across recently:

ChannelNewsAsia - 21 March 2013

The intended meaning is sentence (2a) below:

(2a) To prepare for the meeting, Obama's national security advisor Tom Donilon would go to Beijing on May 26-28.

But the sentence could also have the meaning (2b):

(2b) The meeting is scheduled for May 26-28 and Obama's national security advisor Tom Donilon would go to Beijing to prepare for it.