Quebec French Syntax - Number

Number

On the other hand, many Quebecers in informal context will decide on the agreement with collective nouns based on semantics rather than morphology. That is to say, for instance, that a verb whose grammatical subject is le monde (people, folks) may appear in the 3rd person plural because le monde designates multiple people although it is singular: le monde là-dedans sont en train de chiâler (the people in there are complaining).

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Famous quotes containing the word number:

    I wonder love can have already set
    In dreams, when we’ve not met
    More times than I can number on one hand.
    Philip Larkin (1922–1986)

    As equality increases, so does the number of people struggling for predominance.
    Mason Cooley (b. 1927)

    There are crimes which become innocent and even glorious through their splendor, number and excess.
    François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)