Quantifiers and correlatives at C1 — agreement edge cases

The B2 quantifier lesson covered the inventory: all of which, none of which, both / either / neither, one of those + plural N, comparative correlatives (the more X, the better), and the basic agreement rules. By C1 those are reflex. What stays hard — what trips up native writers and what copy editors flag in submitted academic and journalistic prose — is the cluster of agreement edge cases: the one-of-those construction with relative clauses, mixed-number constructions where a and the trigger different verb agreement, partitive expressions, measure-phrase agreement, and collective-noun agreement variation by register.

This lesson assumes the B2 inventory. We work on the agreement edge cases that even native speakers debate.

The one-of-those construction — one of those who + plural V

Consider:

• She is one of those people who always arrive early. — plural verb
• He is one of those students who never miss a deadline. — plural verb
• That’s one of the few buildings that survive from the original campus. — plural verb

The prescriptive rule: the verb in the relative clause agrees with the plural noun in the of-phrase (those people, those students, the few buildings), not with one. The reasoning is that the relative clause modifies the plural noun, not one: those people [who always arrive early], and she is one of them.

But native speakers regularly violate this rule, producing the singular: She is one of those people who always arrives early. The singular treats one as the relative-clause antecedent, which is a defensible reading. Corpus evidence shows both forms in print, with the plural slightly more frequent in edited prose and the singular more frequent in casual speech.

The C1 register recommendation: in formal writing, follow the prescriptive rule (plural verb agreeing with the plural noun in the of-phrase). In casual speech, either form is acceptable. In academic writing, plural is safer because copy editors enforce the rule.

The one of the few who / one of the many who variant

A close relative of one of those who is one of the few / many / select who:

• He is one of the few who still remember the original protocol.
• She is one of the many who were affected by the policy change.
• That is one of the select few who have access to that system.

Same rule: plural verb agreeing with the few, the many, the select few. The plural is the editorial default; the singular is a tolerated casual form.

The proximate-noun rule and its exceptions

The proximate-noun rule: when a complex noun phrase contains multiple nouns, the verb usually agrees with the noun closest to it (the proximate noun) — but this is overridden by structural rules in specific constructions.

Three constructions where the proximate-noun rule is overridden:

Either… or / Neither… nor

The verb agrees with the second (proximate) subject in either… or and neither… nor coordinations:

• Either the manager or the employees are responsible. (plural — second subject the employees is plural)
• Either the employees or the manager is responsible. (singular — second subject the manager is singular)
• Neither the players nor the coach was available. (singular — proximate is the coach)
• Neither the coach nor the players were available. (plural — proximate is the players)

This proximate rule is strict in edited prose. The order of conjuncts is the writer’s choice; native style usually places the singular second when the plural is more natural to the verb, or vice versa, to avoid awkward agreement.

With / along with / as well as / in addition to

These prepositional phrases do not change the number of the main subject. The verb agrees with the head noun, ignoring the additive phrase:

• The CEO, along with the senior leadership team, is attending the offsite. (singular — the CEO is the head; along with is parenthetical)
• The proposal, as well as its supporting analyses, was rejected by the committee. (singular — the proposal is the head)
• Senator Wilson, in addition to two members of his staff, was named in the report. (singular — Senator Wilson is the head)

The proximate-noun rule does not apply here; the prepositional phrase is a parenthetical add-on and does not change the subject’s number. A Russian-L1 error: producing plural agreement (The CEO along with the senior leadership team are attending) — wrong in formal prose.

Coordinated subjects with and

True conjunction with and gives a plural subject:

• The CEO and the CFO are attending the offsite. (plural — two coordinated subjects)
• The proposal and its supporting analyses were rejected. (plural)

But certain fixed phrases joined by and function as singular units:

• Bread and butter is my favorite breakfast. (compound noun)
• Fish and chips is on the menu. (compound dish)
• Law and order is the campaign’s central theme. (compound abstract)
• Trial and error is how we figured it out. (compound process)

These are lexicalized compounds — bread and butter is one thing, not two — and take singular verbs. The test is whether the phrase names a single entity or two entities.

Mixed-number constructions — a number of are vs the number of is

A genuinely confusing pair:

• A number of* students are absent today.* (plural verb)
• The number of* students is rising.* (singular verb)

The rule:

• A number of + plural noun = “several / many of the noun” → plural verb. A number of is a quantifier; the head is the plural noun.
• The number of + plural noun = “the count / total of the noun” → singular verb. The number is the head (singular); the of-phrase modifies it.

Same pattern with a / the variety of, a / the majority of, a / the minority of, a / the percentage of:

Test: ask whether you mean “the count itself” (singular — the number) or “many of them” (plural — a number of).

Majority / minority / percentage — special cases

In modern AmE, majority and minority take plural verbs when the focus is on the individual members and singular verbs when the focus is on the group as a unit:

• The majority are in favor of the proposal. (focus on members — they each support)
• The majority is clearly with the proposal. (focus on the group as a bloc)

Both are acceptable; the choice signals semantic focus. Copy editors generally accept whichever fits the context.

Partitive constructions — a handful of, a couple of, scads of, dozens of

Partitive expressions specify a portion of a plural reference. They take plural agreement with the of-noun:

• A handful of people were waiting. (plural)
• A couple of issues need resolution. (plural)
• Scads of complaints have come in. (plural — scads is informal AmE for “a great many”)
• Dozens of witnesses were interviewed. (plural)
• A bunch of files are missing. (plural — casual)
• A pile of papers is on the desk. OR *are. (variable — a pile can be the head noun)

The partitive of-phrase usually carries the agreement. The exception is when the partitive head names a physical mass (a pile, a stack, a heap), in which case the head noun can be the agreement controller (singular).

Idiomatic note: a couple of in AmE casual is often shortened to a couple without the of (a couple issues need resolution). This shortened form is informal but widespread; in formal writing, retain the of.

Measure-phrase agreement — five years is / are

Measure phrases — expressions of time, distance, money, weight — behave specially. When the measure phrase functions as a single unit (a duration, an amount), it takes singular agreement, even when grammatically plural:

• Five years is a long time to wait. (duration — singular)
• Ten miles is the maximum we can cover. (distance — singular)
• Five hundred dollars is the asking price. (amount — singular)
• Twenty kilograms is more than I can lift. (weight — singular)

But when the measure phrase enumerates individual units (each one separately considered), it takes plural agreement:

• Five years were spent debating the proposal. (each year considered separately — plural; though five years was spent is also common in casual register)
• Five hundred dollars are missing from the cash register. (each dollar counted — plural)

The default is singular for measure phrases functioning as units. The plural appears only when the discourse foregrounds the individual units. Many native speakers default to singular even in the second context; both are accepted in modern AmE.

Collective-noun agreement — the British/American split

The classic collective-noun agreement difference between BrE and AmE:

• AmE default: singular verb. The team is preparing for the game.
• BrE default: plural verb (especially for sports teams, governments, companies). The team are preparing for the game.

In AmE, the singular is strongly preferred in edited prose: the committee is, the company is, the staff is, the jury is. Plural sometimes appears in casual speech when the focus is on individual members (the staff are all complaining about the new policy), but the singular is the editorial default.

In BrE, the plural is standard for the same collective nouns: Manchester United are playing tonight; the government are considering the proposal. AmE-trained writers who imitate BrE here mark themselves as British-flavored.

Collective noun + pronoun reference

A related agreement decision is the pronoun reference to a collective noun. AmE uses singular it with singular verb; BrE uses plural they with plural verb:

• AmE: The committee is preparing its report. (singular antecedent, singular pronoun)
• BrE: The committee are preparing their report. (plural antecedent, plural pronoun)

Consistency matters. Mixing AmE singular verb with plural pronoun (The committee is preparing their report) is a common L2 error and a copy-editing flag in AmE prose.

When AmE collective nouns take plural

Even in AmE, certain collective nouns take plural agreement in specific contexts:

• The police are investigating. (always plural in AmE — the police refers to officers collectively)
• The people are demanding change. (always plural — the people is plural in this sense)
• The cattle are in the south pasture. (always plural — cattle is plural by convention)

These are lexicalized plurals; they don’t follow the general collective-noun rule.

None — variable agreement

The B2 lesson noted that none can take singular or plural agreement. At C1 the recommendation should be more nuanced:

• None of the proposals was accepted. (formal singular — treating none as not one)
• None of the proposals were accepted. (modern AmE — treating none as plural)

Both are accepted in formal AmE. Some style guides prescribe singular; corpus evidence (COCA, GloWbE) shows plural is in fact more common in modern AmE academic prose. The traditional rule “none = not one, so singular” is descriptively inaccurate; treat both as acceptable.

Same variability for neither / either with multiple antecedents:

• Neither of the candidates is qualified. (singular — prescriptive)
• Neither of the candidates are qualified. (plural — increasingly common in modern AmE)

Modern editorial practice tolerates both; in formal academic prose the singular is slightly safer.

Comparative correlatives — the more X, the more Y

Comparative-correlative constructions don’t have agreement issues per se (the verbs in each clause agree with their own subjects), but they have a fixed structural shape that L2 speakers sometimes violate:

• The more I read, the less I understand. (each clause has its own the + comparative + S + V)
• The longer the meeting drags on, the more impatient the team becomes.
• The harder you push, the more resistance you’ll encounter.

The pattern is: the + comparative form + clause, the + comparative form + clause. The first comparative is the conditional (the cause); the second is the consequence (the effect). Both clauses are independent — they have full SV structure (subject + verb explicit).

A Russian-L1 error: producing More I read, less I understand without the the. The article is structurally required in the correlative construction; it is not optional.

Reduced comparative correlatives in headlines and slogans

Headlines and slogans sometimes reduce the construction by dropping verbs:

• The bigger the company, the slower the change. (verb dropped: is, will be)
• The higher the stakes, the cooler the head. (verb dropped)
• The more, the merrier. (highly reduced)

These reductions are register-marked (headlinese, proverbs, slogans) and should not be imitated in academic prose.

Common Russian-L1 problems at C1

1. Singular verb in a number of + plural N: producing a number of students is absent → a number of students are absent.
2. Plural verb in the number of + plural N: producing the number of students are rising → the number of students is rising.
3. Treating along with / as well as / in addition to as conjunction: producing plural verb after a singular head → singular verb retained, the prepositional phrase is parenthetical.
4. Forgetting the in correlative the more X, the more Y: producing More I read, less I understand → the more I read, the less I understand.
5. AmE singular collective + plural pronoun: producing The committee is preparing their report → The committee is preparing its report (consistent singular).
6. Mixing neither and nor in continuation: producing None of the proposals were feasible, neither was the committee inclined → …nor was the committee inclined. Neither opens; nor continues.
7. Imitating BrE plural collective: producing The team are losing in AmE prose → The team is losing.

Summary

• One-of-those construction: verb in the relative clause agrees with the plural noun in the of-phrase (she is one of those people who always arrive early). Prescriptive plural is the editorial default.
• Proximate-noun rule applies to either… or / neither… nor coordinations (agree with the second subject) but does not apply to parenthetical phrases (with, along with, as well as, in addition to — verb agrees with the main head).
• A number of + plural N = plural verb; the number of + plural N = singular verb. Same pattern with variety, majority, minority, percentage.
• Partitives (a handful of, dozens of, scads of, a couple of) take plural agreement with the of-noun.
• Measure phrases as units (five years is a long time) take singular agreement; as enumerated units (five years were spent), plural.
• Collective nouns in AmE default to singular (the team is, the committee is); in BrE plural. AmE editorial practice strongly prefers singular.
• None takes variable agreement; both singular and plural are acceptable in formal AmE, with plural now slightly more common in corpus evidence.
• Comparative correlatives (the more X, the more Y) require the before each comparative; reduction is register-marked.