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Galina
Help me please. I can't figure out if it's plural or singular:
Traffic jams is/are a problem that a large proportion of people face/faces.
Nov 21, 2023 5:12 PM
Answers · 4
1
The answer is in this screenshot from Oxford Learners Dictionary. Good luck.
November 21, 2023
1
“Face” and “faces” can both work.
Similarly, “a majority of the people in France eats escargot.” Or “eat” - the logic works either way. It depends what the speaker is thinking about - people or majorities. The way we speak reflects what’s going on in our own heads as much as it reflects external reality.
November 21, 2023
It sounds more natural in the plural, I think because ‘traffic jams’ are the primary subject of the sentence.
If it was written differently :
‘A problem that a large proportion of the population faces is traffic jams’ or
‘A problem faced by a large proportion of the population is traffic jams’ then it is singular, because ‘a problem’ is the primary subject.
November 22, 2023
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Galina
Language Skills
English, German, Russian
Learning Language
English, German
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