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Subject:Re: Help with sentence structure... From:Bob Morrisette <robert -dot- morrisette -at- EBAY -dot- SUN -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 30 Oct 1996 11:23:07 -0800
> From peggys -at- STLNET -dot- COM Wed Oct 30 11:04:15 1996
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 12:57:11 -0600
> From: Peggy Schillinger <peggys -at- STLNET -dot- COM>
> Subject: Re: Help with sentence structure...
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Of these two possibilities:
> >
> > ...more may be required if a high number of records *is* retrieved
> > ...more may be required if a high number of records *are* retrieved
> >
> the first item is grammatically correct because it is the "number" that
> is the subject of the verb. You have used "records" in a prepositional
> phrase, so it can't be the subject of a verb at the same time.
> Maybe if you restated the sentence to "many records are retrieved" or
> "more than nnn records are retrieved," you would feel easier about this
> sentence.
> Regards....Peggy Schillinger
I would do this rewrite:
...more may be required if the search retrieves a high number of records.
Instead of "the search," you could use the retrieval method or software name.
Then there is the question of what "a high number" means. I would be
more specific.
Bob Morrisette
writer -at- sabu -dot- EBay -dot- sun -dot- com
