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English to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary / correct verb agreement | | English term or phrase: one part of the students were... | Please help my ignorance. What is the correct agreement form?
Part of the students were submitted to a difficult exam; the other part were given an easy one.
In the first clause the subject is "part", not "the students", right? So, should I write "part of the students was submitted..."?
What would be the correct verb agreement for the second clause? "The other part was given an easy one"?
Mayday, Mayday, HELP! |
| | | part + plural of countable nouns... | Explanation:
... is not a good combination in English - in fact I'd say it was grammatically incorrect.
Part works with a single entity that can be divided up e.g. part of the cake.
part of the student body (body is a single entity).
In your case you could either say:
part of the group were made to sit a difficult exam....
or
some of the students were made to..... |
| Selected response from:
  Dan Brennan
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:54
| Grading comment Thank you for your explanation/point of view, Dan. I did change my translation accordingly.
Thanks also to all others who participated.
Henrique
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +2
