Job Discussion Forums

[daodejing]

Putting "government" or "committe" inside a prepositional phrase so you don't have to deal with its number is akin to using the measure word ge when there is some debate about whether the proper measure word should be tiao or zhi. Or if you don't know if you should use "chairman", "chairperson" or "chairwoman" to describe the female chair of a committee, so instead you just say "the head of the committee" -- it creatively rearranges the sentence and avoids the issue, but it's not the most efficient or eloquent way of expressing yourself (although maybe it is efficient because you don't get into a three-day discussion about the finer points of usage..or style).

[Henry_Cowell]

What's the most "efficient or eloquent" way of expressing the sentence so that it's acceptable to an American audience?

[thrifty]

[daodejing]

[Macquereau]

A number of lawyers are in the conference room.

The book explains that "a number of" is a modifier which means "many".
Hence the subject of the sentence is lawyers rather than number

Correction:
"Of" is a preposition. "Of lawyers" is a prepositional phrase which, by definition, is never the subject of a sentence. Remove the prepositional phrase and you have "A number is in the conference room". Correct.

Or, remove the "modifier" 'A number of' and leave "Lawyers are in the conference room". Also correct.

Using both: "A number of lawyers IS in the conference room".

[Henry_Cowell]