Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[puzzle]

Dear teacher,
In senior English Book II A , there is a sentence,saying " The British Isles are a group of islands that lies off the west coast of Europe". Do you think it right? In my opinion, I think we should use "lie" instead of "lies".
Can you expain this ? Thank you!
Puzzle

[lotus]

Hi puzzle,

I believe the textbook is incorrect.

The British Isles is an archipelago (a group of islands) like the Aleutian Islands or the Galapagos Islands. "Group" is a singular collective noun. The sentence should read:

"The British Isles is a group of islands that lie off the west coast of Europe."

"That lie off the west coast of Europe" is a dependent adjective clause that modifies "islands." It could be argued that it modifies "group." However, because of its proximity and obvious reference to "islands", I would interpret it as modifying "islands."

Here's another example:

The Aleutians is a chain of islands that lie off the coast of Alaska.


--lotus