| 词组 | more than one |
| 释义 | more than one To listen to the usage writers, you would think there was no problem whatsoever with this phrase: Longman 1984, Shaw 1975, 1987, Phythian 1979, Copperud 1970, 1980, Evans 1957, Flesch 1964, Fowler 1926, 1965, Bernstein 1962, 1965, and the OED all confidently assert that more than one is followed by a singular verb; this, they say, in spite of the fact that the meaning is clearly plural. The cagier Bryant 1962 says "usually singular"; Jespersen 1909-49 says that more than one "seems" always to take the singular. The two last-named commentators have good reason for their caution. More than one is a complicated little rascal. To begin with, it is not especially frequent as the subject of a verb and consequently most of those who would talk about it have very little evidence of use. And if we agree that it is plural in sense, then it must govern its verb on the basis of proximity (Jespersen calls it "attraction")—the one being the key item. From our limited evidence it appears that more than one is most often used as a group modifier of a singular noun, with the noun taking the singular verb: • More than one woman has been known to like her —Anthony Hope, The Dolly Dialogues, 1894 (in Jespersen) • Mr. Hannah said that more than one charge of discrimination was involved —N.Y. Times (in Bernstein 1962) • More than one New England family still cherishes the ... tea set —House and Garden, March 1957 (in Bryant 1962) So far so good. But things, as you might suspect, are not that neat and simple. Eugene S. McCartney, in an article in Word Study, February 1953, investigated the problem and found variation in practice. The fly in the ointment is notional agreement. When the notion of plurality predominates, the plural verb is used. Sometimes this results in an awkward-sounding sentence: • ... which ensures that more than one tooth are in contact at all times —George Hessler, in Tool Engineers Handbook, ed. Frank W. Wilson, 1949 But sometimes the plural is simply required by common sense in the context of the whole sentence: • If there are more than one, they are alphabetized among themselves —Webster's Second 1934, Explanatory Notes, Prepositional Phrases (in McCartney) The singular would make no sense here, since a single phrase would not need alphabetizing. Even H. W. Fowler himself was led by notional agreement to the very brink of violating his own principle: • The l[atter] should not be used when more than a pair are in question —Fowler 1926, 1965, under latter Only the use of a and not one saves the rule in this case. In the special situation where one is followed by of and a plural noun, the combination of the plural sense and of the proximate plural noun is likely to produce a plural verb: • In the positions defined above in which more than one of these morphs occur —Charles F. Hockett, Language, January-March 1950 The first thing to remember is that these constructions in which more than one is the subject of a verb or is associated with the subject of a verb do not seem to be very numerous. When the phrase precedes a singular noun, the singular verb is usual, and sounds better too. In more complex sentences, however, the notion of plurality may well prevail—indeed, the plural may sometimes be required by sense. If you write yourself into one of those corners and cannot decide between singular and plural, you may want to try something like the Government Printing Office dodge. McCartney found a 1933 manual with • Where there is more than one consonant, the last is carried over.... And a 1936 one with • Where there are more than one consonant, the last is carried over.... A correspondent told Word Study that a 1953 edition of the manual dodged the problem thus: • In a group of two or more consonants, division is made.... |
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