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Original poster

is or are I just don't know...

14 replies

mamateur · 10/02/2011 15:55

The purchase, import, transit, transportation of goods, technologies and software as cited in appendix 1 are prohibited

It just sounds so wrong. Should it not be is in the singular?

Please help!

OP posts:

witchwithallthetrimmings · 10/02/2011 15:59

I think it should be
"The purchase, import, transit and transportation of goods, technologies and software as cited in appendix 1 are prohibited"

RustyBear · 10/02/2011 16:00

I'd say that 'purchase, import, transit, transportation' are separate processes that could take place independently of each other, so they are all prohibited.

prism · 10/02/2011 17:13

How about

"The purchase of goods, technologies and software as cited in appendix 1 and/or the import, transportation of them, are prohibited."

Personally I do not see any meaningful distinction between "transit" and "transportation".

prism · 10/02/2011 17:14

almost. I meant

"The purchase of goods, technologies and software as cited in appendix 1 and/or the import or transportation of them, are prohibited."

duh.

WincyEtNightie · 10/02/2011 17:16

Agree. Plural (are) because you are prohibiting more than one thing.

Original poster

mamateur · 11/02/2011 10:51

Prism, quite agree, they are one and the same.

Thanks for you posts. I don't why it just sounds better with is but I agree it has to be plural.

OP posts:

prism · 11/02/2011 13:37

It sounds better (IMHO) because the sentence starts with "The purchase" which is singular, and then lists other singular things which at the end of the sentence turn out to be prohibited by a plural verb, and that does not feel right. That's why I rewrote it to put only "the purchase" in the first part of the sentence and the others at the end so you get the list just before the verb. I'm not sure it makes any difference really; the only other way is to say "The following are prohibited..." then there would be no case at all for saying "is".

Bucharest · 11/02/2011 13:43

Is.
Because it's only the purchase that's prohibited...the other things relate back to purchase, don't they?

Bucharest · 11/02/2011 13:44

Now I've read it again and think are.

RustyBear · 11/02/2011 14:51

The other things don't have to relate back to purchase - you could import/transport something you've been given as a gift, presumably the rule is intended to forbid that too.

MaMattoo · 21/02/2011 16:36

most definitely ARE.

NetworkGuy · 23/02/2011 02:58

transit and transportation probably have different legal meanings (perhaps explained elsewhere in this document) when applied to items under discussion.

"in transit" may mean that UK Customs would not need to inspect an item, but nonetheless any movement via the UK is prohibited (and possibly by use of any UK-registered vessel or aircraft).

"Transportation" tends to relate to physical items, but software can be moved via a set of electrons, and no physical packaging would be seen going in or out of a UK port or airport, but nonetheless the transportation of a digital representation (aka copy) is prohibited.

KingofHighVis · 23/02/2011 08:09

I hate and/or. What do you mean, 'and', or 'or'? It's rarely both, and in this case clearly 'and'.

NetworkGuy · 23/02/2011 08:19

there's no guarantee that purchase and transport is carried out, so "and / or" makes perfect sense.

One company could attempt purchase and that would be prohibited

Another company could take a contract to transport goods but doing so could be prohibited (and they'd need to show they were misled to have an excuse)

but neither would be doing both purchase and transport, so it is not clearly 'and' by any stretch of the imagination.

Flip