I think both examples should use the plural form of the verb to be, ie. were. [版主回覆05/28/2011 08:09:00]我後來跟外藉同事研究了一輪，發現用 was 用 were 的人各有各道理 (有的把 people 看成是一組人，有的則當他們是獨立個體)。 如果可以的話，我一定會把 a bunch of 刪掉。
I vaguely remember a time when I was taught to use singular whenever there's an "a" on the other side. That would imply statements like "there is a couple of people....". In reality, I have never seen it. I've seen "there's a couple", but not "there's a couple of people". Therefore, I think the common practice is that they consider 最接近動詞的名詞 to be "a bunch of people", making it "were". On the other hand, using "a bunch of" to describe people is very "slang-ish" (is there such a word?) anyway, so perhaps one could play fast and loose with official rules. [版主回覆05/28/2011 08:11:00]Some teachers think it's 'in' to use 'a bunch of', and that's why there are sentences like the two I mentioned. If I could, I would replace 'a bunch of' with 'some' or 'a number of'. Unfortunately, I can't do this.
It's "in" only among the lower socio-econ class. Among more professional types, it's used rarely, usually to express displeasure over the number, implying that it's too much. [版主回覆05/29/2011 18:54:00]Oh, professional types would use 'a bunch of' too? I didn't know it. Thanks for letting me know, Teacher.
Actually, the singular form can also occasionally be found in such sentence patterns, but it seems to me that the plural form is commoner in current writings. [版主回覆05/29/2011 18:56:00]According to my gweilo colleague, the singular form is quite common on the Internet. Anyway, I still prefer getting rid of 'a bunch of'.
I think both examples should use the plural form of the verb to be, ie. were.
回覆刪除[版主回覆05/28/2011 08:09:00]我後來跟外藉同事研究了一輪，發現用 was 用 were 的人各有各道理 (有的把 people 看成是一組人，有的則當他們是獨立個體)。 如果可以的話，我一定會把 a bunch of 刪掉。
I vaguely remember a time when I was taught to use singular whenever there's an "a" on the other side. That would imply statements like "there is a couple of people....". In reality, I have never seen it. I've seen "there's a couple", but not "there's a couple of people". Therefore, I think the common practice is that they consider 最接近動詞的名詞 to be "a bunch of people", making it "were".
回覆刪除
On the other hand, using "a bunch of" to describe people is very "slang-ish" (is there such a word?) anyway, so perhaps one could play fast and loose with official rules.
[版主回覆05/28/2011 08:11:00]Some teachers think it's 'in' to use 'a bunch of', and that's why there are sentences like the two I mentioned. If I could, I would replace 'a bunch of' with 'some' or 'a number of'. Unfortunately, I can't do this.
It's "in" only among the lower socio-econ class. Among more professional types, it's used rarely, usually to express displeasure over the number, implying that it's too much.
回覆刪除[版主回覆05/29/2011 18:54:00]Oh, professional types would use 'a bunch of' too? I didn't know it. Thanks for letting me know, Teacher.
Actually, the singular form can also occasionally be found in such sentence patterns, but it seems to me that the plural form is commoner in current writings.
回覆刪除[版主回覆05/29/2011 18:56:00]According to my gweilo colleague, the singular form is quite common on the Internet. Anyway, I still prefer getting rid of 'a bunch of'.