LEND ME YOUR EAR: SEE-SAWING WITH COLLECTIVE TERMS

Mistakes in collective nouns and pronouns provide endless fodder for word-watchers. Even the most knowledgeable take wrong turns off and on. In a recent broadcast about America's non-reading public, a long-time announcer reported that "Almost every town in the country have lost at least one book store." Every town have?

A collective noun takes a singular verb when the group is considered a unit, and a plural verb when members are classed as individuals: "Our soccer team has won the cup;" but "The team have received their sweaters."

On "Wall Street Week" Feb. 4, a guest panelist ventured: "Chances of interest rising is very small." Chances is? On "Washington Week," same date, a senior writer from U.S. News & World Report explained: "The whole focus of the issues are on government." Are it?

On "60 Minutes" Feb. 13, Leslie Stahl had this to say of parents attending a remedial school with their children: "Putting these kids in the same class with their parents had a bad effect on the kids." Come on, Leslie, you know "putting" is singular, don't you?

Mistakes are even more frequent in the use of collective pronouns because the number of the pronoun is not always understood. Each, every, everyone, someone, somebody, no one, nobody, either, neither, and a person are construed as singular:

Each of the athletes was present at the ceremony.

Every one (two words) of the students was honored individually.

Everyone (one word) was rooting for the home team.

Never mind that "all were" is more pleasing to my ear than "every one is," and less confusing. Some writers and speakers are more attached to "each" and "every" (also "each and every") than I. But the choices and risks are theirs.

To continue with examples:

Someone picked up a wallet that he (not they) had tripped over.

Not everyone around claimed it was his (not theirs), but either Dave or Gene was (not were) lying.

Adding more fodder to this list, Oprah Winfrey has just asked what a person would do "if somebody abused them." But who besides me ever pays attention to Oprah's grammar?

In expressions such as "one of the speakers who," "one of the seats which," and "one of the topics that," the relative pronoun refers not to the referents, but to the plural object of "of." Some writers disagree, but textbooks tell us the pronoun is considered the subject of the relative clause. Thus: "He is one of those speakers who are in demand"; "This is one of the seats which are reserved for special guests;" "The speaker chose one of the seats which are reserved for special guests;" "The speaker chose one of the most controversial topics that were suggested." I'd eliminate the clause and keep the verb singular.

If "plenty," "variety," "abundance," "many," or much is modified by a phrase introduced by "of," the verb agrees with the noun in phrases such as: "Plenty of potatoes are grown in Idaho;" "An abundance of meat is provided."

Pity the poor Norwegians who tried to converse with American correspondents at the Olympic Games. When Harry Smith asked a woman from Oslo a personal question, she replied with an impish grin: "If I ask you how many money you have, would you tell me?" Served Harry right. In this instance, we could hardly pity the woman. We congratulated her.

In referring to an amount of money, a space of time, or a unit of measurement, the verb is singular even when the form is plural: "Five dollars is the price of the ticket"; "Two miles of walking is advised after a heart attack"; "Twelve to 13 egg whites was the standard ingredient for an angel food cake before mixes were created." Superstitious cooks probably used 12 large eggs.

In writing arithmetical expressions, some disagreement exists regarding what is correct. According to a widely-used English handbook by Walsh and Walsh:

"Six divided by three is two. One fourth of 12 is three. Five times two are 10. (Times is considered plural.) Seven minus two is five. (Seven is considered singular in meaning.) Five plus three is eight. (Five is considered singular.) Three and four are seven. (Subject is compound.)"

If your ear follows a different drummer, I won't put you in a column. Not unless you are a celebrity collecting millions while habitually ignoring the fundamentals of grammar.