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I stumbled at this construction today. Usually I have an intuition of English grammar from past reading that serves me well - but this time both of the versions sound right.
"Most of our generation" is a collective, but singular entity. Does the verb conjugate as that of a singular or as a plural?
It would also be nice to have a reference to a general rule that covers such constructs.

Debanjan Basu
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Without going into whether 'generation' can be used directly for actual people or has to be considered and treated as an ellipsis of 'people of our generation', ask yourself which of these sounds correct:

A quarter of the people are wearing coats.

A quarter of the people is wearing coats.

Then reconsider

Most of our generation only know him by repute.

Most of our generation only knows him by repute.

Edwin Ashworth
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  • your logic does seem to make sense. especially considering that 'most of my generation' is implicitly 'most people of my generation' - which makes your example extremely apt. I shall wait for some more time for other answers before marking you correct (hope that isn't rude by SE policy!!). EDIT: the thread you mentioned completely answered my question satisfyingly. – Debanjan Basu Nov 13 '13 at 09:46
  • Maybe you could edit and include the link in your answer? It was helpful for me too! – Mari-Lou A Nov 13 '13 at 09:51
  • @Mari-LouA : there you go. I edited the answer to include the thread being referred to. – Debanjan Basu Nov 29 '13 at 09:59
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http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t1149-0.htm

this can give some insight to you ...

but by the way technically "Most of our generation" is incorrect... it should be like "Most of the people of our generation" because you cannot count generation so there cannot be "Most" of it. It is like saying "Most of the group" or "Most of the collection of books" which is not correct. You can add "Most of" only to countable subjects.

HerculesOfHell
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    It's as correct as saying 'The kettle has boiled'. In fact more so: Collins allows generation: all the people of approximately the same age [count]. Though admittedly the first sense given on Google is 'all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively'. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 13 '13 at 09:19
  • @Shubham the forum post was a good find - but it doesn't resolve anything (I hope I did not miss something important there!).
    As for the whole issue of countability of the subjects to use the expression 'most of' - I do not see a problem with people or books being uncountable. Do you?     – Debanjan Basu Nov 13 '13 at 09:29
  • @EdwinAshworth could you refer me to the webpage or sigh the book that you refer to? what IS the distinction between collective and countable that both of you seem to keep talking of? – Debanjan Basu Nov 13 '13 at 09:32
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    @Debanjan Basu (comment 1) You're right. The 'most of... is incorrect' is incorrect and irrelevant. Most of is a compound quantifier equally usable with count (most of the apples) and non-count (most of the stew) nouns. The point to answer is does say 'a/one dozen eggs' take a singular verb (a dozen) or a plural verb (12). A dozen eggs is/are required. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 13 '13 at 09:34
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    Try this thread. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 13 '13 at 09:37
  • "Most of the food is bought" "Most of the country is covered in tropical rainforest" "Most of the population is concentrated in the eastern part of the country" (all BBC) – Stuart F Jun 20 '22 at 08:32