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Pedants' corner

"there are a myriad of ways"

12 replies

VictorianIce · 20/09/2011 07:15

For goodness sake, government-person-on-the-radio, even if you accept 'a myriad of' as correct usage, it's singular.

Small grammatical rant over.

OP posts:
stripygiraffe · 20/09/2011 22:49

Yeah the group noun as a singular rather than plural trips a lot of people up. Easier to mess it up in speech I suppose.

These lyrics made my brain hurt trying to figure out if they are grammatically correct as they sound clumsy. What is your verdict?

"There was more of them than us..."

VictorianIce · 22/09/2011 07:06

'More' is an adjective, so the verb has to agree with 'them', which is plural, so it should be 'were'. I think.

The 'than us' but sounds clumsy too though, doesn't it? I will allow it as an acceptable colloquial elision of 'than there were of us'.

Maybe. It's very early.

OP posts:
prism · 22/09/2011 07:55

I heard that very clip on the radio and immediately thought of Pedants' Corner. Boris Johnson would never had said that. Grin

lettinggo · 22/09/2011 23:00

Had to look this up because it didn't hurt my ears.

Usage Discussion of MYRIAD

Recent criticism of the use of myriad as a noun, both in the plural form myriads and in the phrase a myriad of, seems to reflect a mistaken belief that the word was originally and is still properly only an adjective. As the entries here show, however, the noun is in fact the older form, dating to the 16th century. The noun myriad has appeared in the works of such writers as Milton (plural myriads) and Thoreau (a myriad of), and it continues to occur frequently in reputable English. There is no reason to avoid it.
Examples of MYRIAD
There are a myriad of possibilities.

Mr. McCullough hails Adams for being uncannily prescient ? foreseeing a myriad of developments, from the difficulty of defeating the British ? to the divisive consequences of slavery. ?Michiko Kakutani, New York Times, 22 May 2001
Sectarian Protestantism reinforced both American individualism and the tendency of the society to be self-organizing in a myriad of voluntary associations and communities. ?Francis Fukuyama, Atlantic, May 1999
Out in the barrios, under the nipa palms, he listened to the myriads of humming cicadas and the call of the geckos. ?Nina FitzPatrick, Fables of the Irish Intelligentsia, 1991
To read Marie Corelli, you had to be able to follow several hundred printed words at a time, and there were myriads in England who were up to it. ?Hugh Kenner, A Sinking Island, 1987
? laced his fingers behind his head and stared at the myriads of tiny colored dots that make up darkness. ?John Steinbeck, East of Eden, 1952

VictorianIce · 23/09/2011 20:30

But if you're using it as a plural then it should be "there IS a myriad of ways"
or else "there ARE myriads of ways".
Or if it's a synonym for 'many' then this: 'there are myriad ways'

I don't mind which one, but the verb ought to agree with the noun.

OP posts:
Trippler · 23/09/2011 20:32

There are a myriad ways
Not followed by of!

MayDayChild · 02/10/2011 08:06

No prism? Instead he just thinks Shakespeare is a Londoner! Grin

nickelbabe · 08/10/2011 13:27

it's actually "there are myriad ways"

it's not a noun.

HecateGoddessOfTheNight · 08/10/2011 13:30

I thought that too, nickel - "there are myriad ways"

there are a many of ways - or there are many ways
there are a numerous of ways - or there are numerous ways
there are a several of ways - or there are several ways
there are a numberless of ways - or there are numberless ways
there are a countless of ways or - there are countless ways
there are an infinate of ways or - there are infinate ways

nickelbabe · 08/10/2011 13:31

exactly. (except with the infinite... Wink )

Grin
HecateGoddessOfTheNight · 08/10/2011 13:34
Blush infinite
Trills · 08/10/2011 13:40

Based on the title I was going to go for just

There are myriad ways

Myriad meaning (in my head) many and varied

No a and no of

So I agree with nickelbabe

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