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Subject:Re: IS or ARE From:Phil03 <philstokes03 -at- googlemail -dot- com> To:Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca> Date:Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:07:42 +0700
It's not that either are wrong, it's a matter of connotation and context.
Look, both 1 & 2 are correct:
1
Q: How many months of X do you give?
A: n months of X are given.
2.
Q. How much Y do you give
A: n months of Y is given
Substitute what you like for X and Y, the verb has to answer to 'much' or 'many' to be correct (i.e,, are you dealing with a singular quantity or a countable number).
In
'Two months of free service is given' the subject (pace Richard) is 'free service', not two months because this makes no sense stated barely and without context:
'Two months are given.'
'Eh? What are we talking about?'
But this does make sense with no context, and invites further questions:
'Free service is given.'
'Free service for what? And = for how long?'
'Free service on you Z, and for two months'.
=
On 25 Jul 2012, at 11:48, Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca> wrote:
> Yabbut, based on the examples Phil gave:
>
> Two months is enough time for the free service given, but
>
> Two months of free service are provided to existing customers.
>
> "Is" in the latter case is wrong.
>
> -Tony
>
>
>
> On 2012-07-24, at 9:06 PM, Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
>> I checked with Mr. Grammar (my stepbrother) who was an advisor on McGraw Hill grammar books.
>>
>> Phil is right on, so the answer in this context is "is".
>>
>> (Reminds my of a certain POTUS during impeachment hearings...) ;^)
>
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