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OP
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I want to know what is the subject of the sentence "A trail of ants marched across the table". Is "trail" the subject or "a trail of ants". Isn't "of ants" an adjectival prepositional phrase? So how can it be the subject? OTOH a trail marching sounds wrong and incomplete. What marched? A trail marched - sounds incomplete. Yet can a prep phrase be a part of a noun phrase? Thanks for your help.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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perhaps it could be thought of as just sort of wrong; or, 'a trail of ants' could be a collective noun (like a pride of lions or an exaltation of larks : )
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OP
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or, 'a trail of ants' could be a collective noun yeah okay. an exaltation of larks : ) Heh!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Which sounds better to you?
A) A trail of ants is marching across the table.
or
2) A trail of ants are marching across the table.
Not to throw any confusion into the mix.
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addict
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addict
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The second one faldage, I always assume that if it is plural then "are" is the right use, but "is" would be correct for singular, but if it is the collective being used (herd of lions) I would say the herd is moving this way not the herd are moving this way But The herds are moving this way Would be the correct form as it is plural herdsI might be wrong though... 
----The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false----
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OP
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A trial of ants is marching across... Is gramatically correct, right?... WHICH means that a trail is the subject and of ants the prep phrase; WHICH means... I forget what it is I am arguing here. Too tired. G night. Gesnorgenplatz.
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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A trial of ants is marching across... Is gramatically correct, right?
Well, it depends what you mean by subject, right. Syntactically, the noun phrase, the trail of ants, is the subject of the sentence. Subject verb concord would be based on the head noun phrase the trail. How you handle the verb, singular versus plural, does have something to do with how you interpret the whole NP, the trail of ants. I would treat a flock of sheep as plural, but a herd of bison as singular: e.g., "A flock of sheep were cropping my lawn", but "a herd of bison was blocking the road".
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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these sorts of discussion is/are prezactly why I could never abide sentence diaphragm[m]ing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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these sorts of discussion is/are prezactly why I could never abide sentence diaphragm[m]ing.Back in the day, I really enjoyed sentence diagramming, especially sentences in the wild, rather than the tawdry little sample sentences in our grammars and workbooks. I first learned the traditional, Reed-Kellogg system ( link), but then later as an undergraduate was exposes to the various flavors of directed acyclical graphs of generative grammar ( link) schools of linguistic theory.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I never could abide diagramming either, tho' my teachers
would tell me I was very good at it. I would cringe
and want to run screaming from the room when the topic
was announced by the teacher.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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