Teacher Discussion Forums

The sentences below are part of data illustrated in the homepage of "Lungevity Foundation" that is said to dedicate to funding lung cancer research (http://www.lungevity.org/facts.htm).

In 2002, an estimated 170,000 people will be newly diagnosed with lung cancer, and an estimated 155,000 people will die of lung cancer. An estimated 89,000 of these deaths will be men and an estimated 66,000 will be women.

Here is a question.

Q) As I know, indefinite articles(a/an) cannot be placed in front of plural noun phrases because indefinite articles themselves represent the meaning of "one". Therefore, in this case, I think "an" in front of "estimated" should be deleted because "people" in "an estimated 170,000 people" is a plural noun. As a different analysis, can it be understood as a specific group of people that is grammatically considered as sigular? For example, "20 years is the minimum length of time for the application". However, even in this case, there should not be an ariticle in front of the noun phrase "20 years" because indefinite articles do not go with plural nouns in nature. Is it possible to use "A 20 years"? How can you explain this?

The phrase is perfectly correct; not only that, but it would be incorrect to get rid of the article.

The answer appears to be our old standby, "ellipsis", or its first cousin "notional agreement". The singular word 'number' is implied here.

These examples might make it clearer.

A frightening 50% of all American High School students don't know which State they live in.
A frightening ten million American High School students don't know which State they live in.

Now many American (and other) High School students are frightening for different reasons, but not all of these 50% or ten million are frightening, and many in the other 50% will be. What is frightening is the number of students who are ignorant, or the ignorance of these students.

What is clear is that 'estimated' doesn't apply to people, any more than 'frightening' applies to students*. People can't be estimated, only numbers. And 'an estimated 170,000' is one estimation, and thus singular. As a result, you can't delete the 'an' in your example.

The trap you are falling into is to look at questions of agreement mechanically. The 'language organism' does not work that way. It considers the items conceptually.

* Look at these examples to see the difference more clearly.
A frightened ten million students petitioned Mr. Bush to get rid of all nuclear weapons in the World
Ten million frightened students petitioned Mr. Bush to get rid of all nuclear weapons in the World
Ten million frightening students don't know what state they live in. INCORRECT

The first example above suggests that even when the adjective is describing the plural noun the concept of a single quantity can allow the singular article.

Thanks for bringing it up anyway. The problem with being a native speaker is that one never sees the interesting points until somebody else points them out.[/b]