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jays
Joined: 13 Oct 2005
Posts: 221
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 Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:07 am Post subject: the number who say |
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Is "the number who" in the following sentence correct and natural?
--------- the following ------------------
Thus the number who say they would think less of a husband who exchanges roles with his wife and stays home to take care of the household has declined from 64% to 30% over a generations time. |
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buddhaheart
Joined: 13 Jan 2007
Posts: 195
Location: Vancouver, BC Canada
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| Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Strictly speaking, �number� is not a person and therefore it can�t �say� and can�t be used with the relative pronoun �who�. You might consider �The number of respondents� or �The percent of those surveyed� and so on. |
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bud
Joined: 09 Mar 2003
Posts: 2111
Location: New Jersey, US
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| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:00 am Post subject: |
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But couldn't "number" be functioning like a pronoun? I would presume that earlier in the text, "the number of respondents who..." was used. From there on, "the number who..." is used as shorthand. Why is it any different than using "one," "several" or "many" to mean people (as opposed to apples)?
The reason I bring this up is that the sentence sounds perfectly natural to me for the discussion of a study. |
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