A group of mountaineers

[Bassim]

Please would you correct the mistakes in my sentences.

1.A group of mountaineers who have been lost, have finally been found.
or should I maybe write:
2. A group of mountaineers who were lost, have finally been found.

 

[MikeNewYork]

They both work for me.

 

[emsr2d2]

As you are about to see, in BrE, we tend to say that "a group" takes the singular.

A group of mountaineers, which had been thought lost, has now been found.

Mind you, I find "A group of mountaineers, thought to be lost, has now been found."

 

[MikeNewYork]

Yes, "group" is singular, but "mountaineers" is plural. It is arguable whether the relative clause attaches to "group" or "mountaineers". This is another area of subject-verb agreement that has no clearly correct answer.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Bassim:

1. I believe that you forgot the comma after "mountaineers." I believe that "who have been lost" is a non-defining clause. That is, it is information that the readers probably already know.

2. So let's simplify it to "A group of mountaineers _____ finally been found."

3. "Group" is a collective noun. Most American books teach us that a collective noun takes a singular verb if YOU think that it is referring to the whole UNIT; it takes a plural verb if YOU are thinking of the INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS.

4. In my OPINION, the writer of that sentence was thinking of the group as a UNIT. Thus, I should choose "has."



James