Olympic Games

[daisy1352]

I have a sentence in my book "the five colored rings symbolizes...
Why symbolizes? We have five colored rings, a plural noun.

Olympic has a cloth that there are five colored rings on it. What is that piece of cloth called? What continent does each circle symbolize? What color stands for Asia, Africa, Europe ...?

Thanks

[Tdol]

The book is thinking of the five rings joined together into one symbol. The cloth is a flag. The colours don't represent individual continents:
As can be read in the Olympic Charter, the Olympic symbol represents the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games. However, no continent is represented by any specific ring. Though colourful explanations about the symbolism of the coloured rings exist, the only connection between the rings and the continents is that the number five refers to the number of continents.
Olympic symbols - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by daisy1352

I have a sentence in my book "the five colored rings symbolizes...
Why symbolizes? We have five colored rings, a plural noun.

Olympic has a cloth that there are five colored rings on it. What is that piece of cloth called? What continent does each circle symbolize? What color stands for Asia, Africa, Europe ...?

Thanks

Tdol is correct about the intent of the author. However, I would have chosen a plural verb there.

[curmudgeon]

The circles represent the 5 continents. They are coloured blue, yellow, black, green and red. When they are placed on the white background of the flag they represent all the colours appearing on the national flags of the world. This is the explanation given by Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern olympics

If you want lots more information go here


http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_672.pdf

[Tdol]

Originally Posted by MikeNewYork

Tdol is correct about the intent of the author. However, I would have chosen a plural verb there.

Interesting that it seems to be a book by an American author, from the spelling of colored, but as a BrE speaker, I have no problem with the use of the singular there.

[curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Tdol

Interesting that it seems to be a book by an American author, from the spelling of colored, but as a BrE speaker, I have no problem with the use of the singular there.

Not only colour but symbolise as well.

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by Tdol

Interesting that it seems to be a book by an American author, from the spelling of colored, but as a BrE speaker, I have no problem with the use of the singular there.

I think it is correct either way; I was simply expressing my preference.

[Tdol]

Okey dokey