“A number of” versus “The number of”

The phrase “a number of” is followed by a plural noun and a plural verb.  This is because “a number of” means “some” or “several.”  You use this phrase when you are not sure of the exact number of things or people you are talking about. It shows indefiniteness. E.g. “A number of pages have been torn from the book.” We don’t know the exact number of pages that have been torn from the book.

The logical subject is “a number.” It is the reason the verb “have” comes in plural form. “A number of men rushed out of the house.” The number of the men that rushed out of the house is unknown. This accounts for the use of the indefinite article “A.”

“The number of” is a tricky phrase in that you also follow it with plural nouns. You cannot follow the phrase with a plural verb. This is where people often get confused. Most people expect that when you have a plural noun, such a noun should attract a plural verb. When you have a construction that involves “The number of,” the logical subject is not the plural noun that comes after the preposition “of,” but the expression “The number.”

This expression is definite, therefore it should be followed by a singular verb. It is “The number” that controls the verb that comes after the plural noun. E.g. “The number of pages torn from the book is eight.” In this sentence, “pages” does not control the verb because it is not the logical subject. What controls the verb is “The number.” We know the number of pages torn out of the book. That is why we have the definite article “The” as part of the controlling subject.

It is I or It’s me

It is a standard rule of English grammar to use a subject pronoun after state-of-being verbs such as “is,” “am,” “was,” “were,” “are.” E.g. “It is I.”  “It was she that took the book.” “I am he.” These expressions sound bookish and highly formal. The casualness surrounding spoken words and the formalness of the written words have their effect on the appropriateness of pronouns.

Hence, if you are in the office, you’d say “It is I,” whereas at home you say “It’s me.” If you are writing a formal report, you are most likely to write “It is I.” But if you are writing a personal story, you’d write “It’s me.” “It is I” reveals a kind of formal distance between you and the interlocutor or addressee while “It’s me” exposes a sort of proximity between you and the interlocutor or the addressee. The contracted form of “It is” used in “It’s I” goes a long way to show how the informal setting allows many things to happen to our words. A letter to your boss cannot have such contracted forms of words meanwhile a phone call to your son can have lots of words shortened.

A Marriage Of ‘ARE’ and ‘A’

Wondering why you have such a combination of the be verb “are” and the indefinite article “a” in the same sentence and in such a proximity? “Are” is a plural verb used while referring to plural nouns while “a” is an indefinite article referring to unspecified singular subjects.

You cannot have “are a” in isolation. Such a union is against the rule of grammar and semantics but you can have them within a construction. They often appear together in expressions of quantity. “There are a lot of people out there.” It’s easy to let this go because “are” is plural, “lot” is plural in meaning just as “people” is plural.How about this? “We are a children” This is simply ungrammatical.

The “are a” is out of place because the plural personal pronoun “We” establishes the fact that the verbs and articles in this sentence should be in their plural forms. Unfortunately, only the verb “are” is plural. The article that follows does not indicate plurality. It is thus not needed. The correct version would then be “We are children.” Had it been the final word were a mass or non-count noun regarded as a unit, we would not need to remove the “a.” We can have “We are a family.”

“There are a good few oranges left in the basket.” The “a” does not have any power over “few.” Its control stops at the adjective “good.” The “are” is there because of its connection with “few” which pluralizes the “oranges.” Knock off the “are,” and the “few,” then you strengthen the “a” and make the sentence become: “There is a good orange left in the basket.”

Written By Omidire Idowu.

Omidire Idowu Joshua writes,  edits, and proofreads professionally for publication firms and online magazines. He also teaches English online. You may reach him via noblelifeliver@gmail.com or @IAmEagleHeart (Twitter).