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Pedants' corner

This looks all wrong to me

10 replies

youmaycallmeSSP · 25/02/2013 09:37

DS picked up a Thomas and Friends book at a shop the other day and asked me to read it to him. I would have bought it for him but on the very first page it said "There is always lots of jobs for him to do."

That's wrong isn't it?

OP posts:
SPBInDisguise · 25/02/2013 09:42

Yes

SPBInDisguise · 25/02/2013 09:42

Wronger than a very wrong fing

youmaycallmeSSP · 25/02/2013 09:54

I thought so but then wondered if I was missing an obscure rule somewhere. I'm glad I didn't buy it in that case!

OP posts:
somebloke123 · 26/02/2013 11:17

It would have been OK to say "There is always a lot of jobs for him to do", but the version given is wrong.

WMittens · 26/02/2013 21:50

It would have been OK to say "There is always a lot of jobs for him to do"...

I disagree - 'jobs' is obviously plural so it should have been 'are'.

somebloke123 · 27/02/2013 10:30

But "lot" is singular.

A pound of peas costs 50p.

A box of frogs is something I have never seen.

Admittedly the English language is not always consistent on this.

I would think either "is" or "are" would be permissible in this case as idiomatic English.

WMittens · 27/02/2013 21:47

Try swapping 'lot' for 'few', 'some' or 'many' and see if it still works:

"There is always many jobs..."
"There is always a few jobs..."
"There is always some jobs..."

'Lot' in this case refers to "more than one", rather than a collection or set of things (a lot at an auction, for example).

Your examples of 'pound' and 'box' are not parallel with 'lot' in this context - the singular pound and the singular box are the subject in each case.

vamosbebe · 27/02/2013 21:49

Terrible English.
They've wrote it wrongly.
Glad you didn't not buy it!

WMittens · 27/02/2013 21:49

Another example I've just found which is a useful illustration described as countable and uncountable:

"A lot of this material is confusing."

"A lot of these memos are confusing."

You could say, "a lot of this job is going to be time-consuming." 'Jobs' is countable - you can have fewer jobs, rather than less jobs. Wink

somebloke123 · 28/02/2013 10:24

I'm not sure it's really comparable as "few" and "many" are adjectives and "lot" is a noun.

As I say I don't think the language is particularly consistent on this, in cases where you have one entity which consists of many components. It depends whether you are stressing the entity as a whole or the several components within it.

So "The jury discussed the evidence among themselves [not itself]".

But:

"The "The jury was assembled"

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