[Grammar] The number of

[Snappy]

Can I say, "The number of cars and car accidents is increasing," instead of "the number of cars and the number of car accidents are increasing"?
If the answer is yes, can I use the form "The number of XXX (plural), YYY (plural), and ZZZ (plural) is increasing."?

 

[emsr2d2]

Can I say, "The number of cars and car accidents is increasing," instead of "the number of cars and the number of car accidents are increasing"?
If the answer is yes, can I use the form "The number of XXX (plural), YYY (plural), and ZZZ (plural) is increasing."?

I would use "are". Effectively, you have said "The number of cars and the number of car accidents ..." so that's a total of two "numbers", therefore use the plural. It's easy to see why people would simply look at "The number" and assume it would be followed by "is" but you need to check the rest of the sentence.

The number of cars is increasing.
The number of car accidents is increasing.
The number of cars and accidents are increasing.

You might even hear "The numbers​ of cars and car accidents are increasing".

 

[billmcd]

Can I say, "The number of cars and car accidents is increasing," instead of "the number of cars and the number of car accidents are increasing"?
If the answer is yes, can I use the form "The number of XXX (plural), YYY (plural), and ZZZ (plural) is increasing."?

I would use "is" because the subject is "number".

 

[MikeNewYork]

I would use "is" because the subject is "number".

I would use "are" because the number is not the same in the two cases. So there are actually 2 numbers.

 

[hetzer]

I'm not a native speaker, but as billmcd says the subject it "number." I teach my students when the subject is singular, use "is." I would use "is" in this pattern.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I'm not a native speaker, but as billmcd says the subject it "number." I teach my students when the subject is singular, use "is." I would use "is" in this pattern.

But there is an intended ellipsis after "and" in this case. This is a case of notional accord, which overrules the rule.

 

[Tdol]

I'm not a native speaker, but as billmcd says the subject it "number." I teach my students when the subject is singular, use "is." I would use "is" in this pattern.

But there really are two different numbers, aren't there?

I'd be more likely to use the numbers + plural here, but the singular doesn't bother me.

 

[billmcd]

But there is an intended ellipsis after "and" in this case. This is a case of notional accord, which overrules the rule.

I must have dozed off during the class on "intended ellipses" and "notional accords" :shock:, but I'm going to stick with "is" based on the Humpty Dumpty Rule and his quote from Through the Looking Glass, "When I use a word it means exactly what I want it to mean, nothing more, nothing less".

 

[Rover_KE]

Can I say, "The number of cars and car accidents is increasing," instead of "the number of cars and the number of car accidents are increasing"?

To summarise, Snappy — you can please yourself.;-)

 

[hetzer]

But there really are two different numbers, aren't there?

I'd be more likely to use the numbers + plural here, but the singular doesn't bother me.

Yes, but if you talk about two different numbers, then I assume the subject should be "the numbers." "The numbers of ~ are" is of course fine.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I must have dozed off during the class on "intended ellipses" and "notional accords" :shock:, but I'm going to stick with "is" based on the Humpty Dumpty Rule and his quote from Through the Looking Glass, "When I use a word it means exactly what I want it to mean, nothing more, nothing less".

Well. if you think that the number of cars and car accidents is the same, then Humpty Dumpty is your guy.

 

[Tdol]

Yes, but if you talk about two different numbers, then I assume the subject should be "the numbers." "The numbers of ~ are" is of course fine.

But we have two numbers here: 1) the number of cars and 2) the number of accidents. There is no way on earth to reduce these two things to a single figure. However, as I said, the singular verb does not bother me- mathematical and grammatical singular/plural don't have to be the same.

 

[emsr2d2]

You can only reduce them to a single figure if you add them up giving you "The total number of cars and car accidents last year was ..." but I can't see any reason why anyone would do that.

I would consider "The number of cars and car accidents ..." to refer to two different numbers, so there would be (as I read it) an unwritten "the number of" before "car accidents". As I said in my first post, you will also hear "The numbers of cars and car accidents ...". My initial thought was that the latter would be less common but from the other posts here, perhaps it would actually be more common. I would use "number" and "are" for the reasons given at the start of this paragraph.

 

[Tdol]

Singular and plural can often be the trickiest areas of English IMO. We have three opinions on the answer here.