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Originally Posted By: latishya
is the complaint alleging that it should be "better" not "best"?


Yep. It's maybe not all that common but it does pop up from time to time. I like lumping it with other cases of dual/plural agreement. The are other cases of complaining about use of the superlative when the comparative is considered more appropriate.

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So, under which issue does "there are a lot" fall?

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When you get these all assembled and dissected are you going to put the bloody remains on your flying words blog?

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Originally Posted By: twosleepy
So, under which issue does "there are a lot" fall?


There's a problem with this? Presumably, the sentence goes on from there, e.g., "there are a lot of dingie-hoozies ..." If you're talking about the lot then, yeah, it should be "there is a lot ..." but if you're talking about the dingie-hoozies "there are a lot ..." is surely correct.

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When you get these all assembled and dissected are you going to put the bloody remains on your flying words blog?

Actually I am toying with putting them in book form.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Will it be a flying book?

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Will it be a flying book?

I doubt that they will be flying off the shelves.

[Fixed typo.]

Last edited by zmjezhd; 09/13/09 12:38 PM.

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Originally Posted By: Faldage
Originally Posted By: twosleepy
So, under which issue does "there are a lot" fall?


There's a problem with this? Presumably, the sentence goes on from there, e.g., "there are a lot of dingie-hoozies ..." If you're talking about the lot then, yeah, it should be "there is a lot ..." but if you're talking about the dingie-hoozies "there are a lot ..." is surely correct.


I guess I'm really stupid, then, and need this explained to me. I don't understand how "there are a lot of dingie-hoozies" is correct, but "there are a group of dingie-hoozies" is wrong, unless, of course, it is correct. The following are all correct, then, although they sound wrong to me:

There are a box of dingie-hoozies.
There are a roomful of dingie-hoozies.
There are a crapload of dingie-hoozies.
There are a quantity of dingie-hoozies.

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dingie-hoozies Definition, please!

Jackie #186814 09/13/09 05:38 AM
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I would venture to guess that they have nothing at all to do with goofaglarbians.

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