Every month or two I get a question like this one from Scott. He says he’s been fighting with his editors over a sentence that’s been driving him crazy.
Should it be
We want to know the proportion of all M&M’s that is blue
or
We want to know the proportion of all M&M’s that are blue.
He says, “I know that ‘proportion’ is singular, so the verb that would go with it is ‘is.’ Clearly though, it’s the M&Ms that “are” blue, not the proportion. But, the proportion needs to be the subject of the sentence. Any other form that we’ve thought of for this sentence makes it mathematically confusing.”
Ignore Prepositional Phrases for Subject-Verb Agreement
The reason Scott and his editors are frustrated is that there’s a prepositional phrase—“of all M&M’s”—between the subject and the verb. The general rule is that you are supposed to ignore prepositional phrases when they come between a noun and its verb, but in this case, ignoring the prepositional phrase sounds wrong to a lot of people because it contains a—”M&M’s”—and it’s closer to the verb than the noun: “the proportion.”
If you take out the “M&M’s” phrase, you’re left with “We want to know the proportion that is blue,” which sounds fine.
Synesis Says You Can Use the Noun in the Prepositional Phrase
But here’s where it gets really frustrating if you like firm rules: many style guides talk about a concept called “synesis” that lets you use a plural verb in these cases when the meaning of your sentence has a sense of being plural.
“Synesis” comes from a Greek word that means “understanding,” so they’re saying you should go with the understanding of the sentence rather than the strict grammatical structure.
Yes, they’re saying you can ignore the regular grammar rule about subject-verb agreement and ignore the prepositional phrases, especially with nouns of multitude such as “proportion,” “bunch,” “percentage,” and “variety.”
This isn’t a new idea—there are references going back to the nineteenth century, and these are no lightweight, squishy style guides either. Garner’s Modern English Usage, which tends to be on the prescriptive side, says in such sentences you can “justifiably use a plural verb” and says doing so is “grammatically safe.”
Rewrite Whenever Possible
But here’s the problem in my mind: a lot of people learned the “ignore the prepositional phrase” rule and have never heard of synesis. Scott and his editors even repeat the argument that they know the words “the proportion” should determine which verb they choose…and then they still write to me to see if I’ll give them permission or justification to do what they think is wrong. And that’s the problem: I’m giving you a justification, but a lot of people are still going to look at the sentence and think it is wrong. Or at least a few.
So if you embrace synesis, I don’t think you are safe—at least not safe from judgment. If you’re feeling bold, you can use a plural verb and know that at least some style guides are on your side and most people will think it sounds better; but if you don’t want to risk a few people thinking your sentence is wrong, it’s best to rewrite it.
Scott said they couldn’t think of a good rewrite, and I know it’s hard sometimes. Here are a couple of rewrites my editor and I came up with:
The original sentence was “We want to know the proportion of all M&M’s that are blue.”
My rewrite was, “Some proportion of all M&M’s will be blue. We want to know that proportion.”
My editor’s rewrite was, “Of all the M&M’s, we want to know the proportion that is blue.”
So that’s your Quick and Dirty Tip: You can use a plural verb with a noun of multitude like “handful,” “minority,” and “majority” if it’s followed by a prepositional phrase with a plural noun, but I still think there’s sometimes a reason to be cautious about doing so.
Example Sentences Using Synesis
TRADITIONALLY CORRECT: A number of girls is coming to the game.
CORRECT USING SYNESIS: A number of girls are coming to the game.
REWRITE: Many girls are coming to the game.
TRADITIONALLY CORRECT: A handful of countries has the death penalty.
CORRECT USING SYNESIS: A handful of countries have the death penalty.
REWRITE: The death penalty still exists in a handful of countries.
Candy image courtesy of Shutterstock.
Mignon Fogarty is Grammar Girl and the founder of Quick and Dirty Tips. Check out her New York Times best-seller, “Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.”