Re: IS or ARE

[Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca>]

Not quite. You see:

"months of free service" is the object in this specific form of the
statement, so the "two "modifies "months of free service", not "months".

"Two months" (time period) is not the object.

"Free service" (singular noun) is not the object

That's why "Two months of free service are given to existing customers" is
the better of the two examples.

But are we just picking at hairs and ignoring the fact that passive voice
causes too many problems? So DON'T DO IT? ;-)

-Tony

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 10:07 PM, Phil03 <philstokes03 -at- googlemail -dot- com>wrote:

> 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'.
> =
>
> Two months of free service (on Z) is given.
>
>
> Phil
> http://applehelpwriter.com
>
>
>
> 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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