Pay back / pay off & have / has

[renzheng04]

Hello teachers ,

Which is wrong English ?(The way the native speakers use)

1)90 % of the debts have been paid back so far.

2)90 % of the debts have been paid off so far.

3)90 % of the debts has been paid back so far.

4)90 % of the debts has been paid off so far.


Thanks a lot.

[thedeebo]

Not a teacher.

If the debt is plural, then the first two are correct. If the debt is singular, then the second two are correct. The debt is singular when you are talking about something like the national debt. It can be plural when you are talking about debtors in general (like home or car buyers). Debt is usually used in the singular.

[norwolf]

Hello teachers ,

Which is wrong English ?(The way the native speakers use)

1)90 % of the debts have been paid back so far.

2)90 % of the debts have been paid off so far.

3)90 % of the debts has been paid back so far.

4)90 % of the debts has been paid off so far.


Thanks a lot.

Personally, I would choose 1.

debts have
(Corpus shows)
pay off phrasal verb
1 pay something ↔ offBF to give someone all the money you owe them:
I'll pay off all my debts first.
He finally paid his overdraft off.
pay somebody/something ↔ back phrasal verb
1BFL to give someone the money that you owe them [= repay]:
I'll pay you back on Friday.
We're paying back the loan over 15 years.(LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English)

not a teacher
n

[Raymott]

Hello teachers ,

Which is wrong English ?(The way the native speakers use)

1)90 % of the debts have been paid back so far.

2)90 % of the debts have been paid off so far.

3)90 % of the debts has been paid back so far.

4)90 % of the debts has been paid off so far.


Thanks a lot.

The first two are correct. If something is paid back, it is paid off.
"90% of the debts" is plural, so you use "have".