Plethora
L. J. Swain
x99swain at wmich.edu
Thu Feb 24 14:30:14 EST 2000
Quite right, one of those pesky collective nouns, singular in form, plural in
meaning, but taking singular verbs.
Bart Ehrman wrote:
> I don't think this is correct. Plethora is singular in English
> (there's no corresponding "plethorum," because it doesn't come from Latin
> but from Greek PLHQWRA, 1st declension singular), as in "Love covers a
> plethora of sins."
>
> -- Bart D. Ehrman
> University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
>
> On Thu, 24 Feb 2000, Wayne Leman wrote:
>
> > >
> > >> BTW, this is one of my soapboxes. I'm currently proofreading (yet)
> > another
> > >> new English Bible version and it is full of (yea, replete with, and there
> > is
> > >> even a plethora of) syntactic "transliterations" from Greek which do not
> > >
> > >Should that not be 'there ARE even a plethora of ...'?
> >
> > You *are* so right, Jonathan. We Americans often get number agreement
> > confused with using borrowed Greek and Latin plurals. "The data clearly
> > shows..." vs. "The data clearly clear show..." <g>
> >
> > >
> > >'scuse my ignorance if otherwise, but I'm just feeling pedantic!
> >
> > Well, thanks for being pedantic,
> > another of my soapboxes is accuracy and you caught a slip on my part,
> > Wayne
> >
> >
> > ---
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> >
>
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--
Larry Swain
Assistant to the Publisher
Old English Newsletter
Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University
1201 Oliver St.
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(616) 387-8832
x99swain at wmich.edu
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