[Grammar] afford/affords

milan2003_07 said:

Hello,

What do you think about as follows:

Only 2% of the country population afford/affords sending their children abroad to study.

On the one hand we should choose "afford" because 2% usually means a great number of people (definitely more than one), but on the other hand 2% can be considered the singular.

What is your view?

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bhaisahab said:

My view is that I wouldn't write it like that. I would write, "Only 2% of the population can afford to send their children abroad to study.

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milan2003_07 said:

Anyway, even if what I've written sounds not good enough for your ear which option would you choose?

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milan2003_07 said:

I see that my example with "afford" was ill-considered. How about the following:

10% of the country population travel to New Zealand every year. You don't need the word "country".

90% of students prefer to take food with them rather than buy it at school. This is OK. It would be better if you wrote "Ninety per cent..."

Thanks

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