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In a recent book review my final sentence was "All else are just things". The magazine editor changed it to "All else is just things". Which is correct, is or are? Given that "All else" and "things" is plural I thought "are" is the correct word, but am now wondering who's right -- me or the editor!
Comments
I would agree with Dorothy in that it's very tricky to get right especially as we all probably get it wrong when we're speaking.
In such situations I usually take the cowardly route and find a different way to say it. 'Everything else is just stuff' seems to work :-)
[quote=DeneBebbo]Given that "All else" and "things" is plural I thought "are" is the correct word,[/quote]
Should't it have been - Given that "All else" and "things"are plural :)
I asked my techie friend if anyone ever read the terms and conditions on software and he said generally no, but there is a true story of someone who won $10,000 because he did, the company had put a clause in that if you read that far and proved it by emailing with the code they had inserted, you would win.
While 'are' might be grammatically correct, 'is' sound better.
And yes, it can upset readers, who will then write in and complain ...
Richt has a good point, deciding to change it (which wouldn't be cowardly, Rich; it could even be better), because the question it has thrown up proves that it is unwieldy. It's surprising how you can hit upon an even more punchy version if you cast about. In any case (and I'm being finicky here) I would avoid using 'just', which usually means careless writing/editing.
Here is the news.
None = not one = singular.
But I have a feeling there may/might be circumstances where you can/may use the plural verb. Could be wrong, though.
'None is here' sounds stupid. Mind you, 'Not one is here' sounds equally stupid. Perhaps 'no one' would be used.
If you ever have doubts about whether or not a sentence is grammatically correct, then simply change it for something better.
(Drat. I suppose I'd better check that that's right, too.)
Make sure there's no pissenlit! :)
And I think we should let Jay go on contributing solo to this thread, as he seems to have a lot to say ... (LOL) :)
Especially for you. Or was that another song?
If you ever have doubts about whether or not a sentence is grammatically correct, then simply change it for something better. [/quote]
Yeah, in retrospect I could have written the sentence differently, but in context of the rest of the review I was trying to finish with a pithy statement in which the word "just" was also chosen purposely. Anyhow, it shows how much there is to learn about writing no matter how often you've already been published!