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Stack Exchange is the best (and one of very few useful) question-and-answer websites in the world.

In this statement, should it be website (where "best" overrules "one of very few") or websites (where "one of very few" overrules "best"? What is the correct way to phrase the intent of this statement in a single sentence?

Update: one of my friends noted that the question is wrong. Since there is an 'and' within the brackets, the statement is itself a compound sentence, and hence is not reducible to a simple statement. I think he is right.

Anand
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  • This question is better asked on [ell.se] – Kris Nov 09 '14 at 13:32
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    @Kris: I don't see any reason why this should go to ELL. There are no clear rules, and it's a quirky aspect of English that confuses most native speakers anyway. – FumbleFingers Nov 09 '14 at 14:12
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    In principle one might have thought Changing plurality in parentheses would answer this question as well, but it doesn't. Nor does Singular or plural after optional parentheses, which was closed as a duplicate of the former. But I feel sure someone has asked this same question before on ELU *and received a relevant response.* – FumbleFingers Nov 09 '14 at 14:21
  • @FumbleFingers The broader question of "whether the grammatical-number needs to be aware of a parenthetical clause" has already been dealt with here. However, I guess a simpler answer would be more helpful to the OP. – Kris Nov 09 '14 at 14:22
  • Okay, Anand, to put it in a few words, websites need not consider what is in the parentheses, it only needs to agree in number with best. – Kris Nov 09 '14 at 14:24
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    @Kris: Robusto has deleted his first attempt at an answer (though perhaps he can be persuaded to have another go), and I've spent a couple of minutes trying unsuccessfully to find an earlier question dealing with this. Instead of trying to foist it on ELL, why don't you either find an earlier dup or *answer the damned question*? – FumbleFingers Nov 09 '14 at 14:30
  • I have corrected a typo in the location of the closing parenthesis. So, @Kris: Stack Exchange is the best (and one of very few useful) question-and-answer website in the world. ?? - doesn't sound right to me... – Anand Nov 09 '14 at 14:35
  • That's because of the mixed semantics of the sentence. – Kris Nov 09 '14 at 14:39
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    @Kris I agree that the semantics are mixed. But this is a very common pattern that arises in a lot of written language. That is why I posted this question here. – Anand Nov 09 '14 at 15:05
  • One of my friends pointed out that the question is wrong, and I think he is right - the question itself is a compound sentence, due to the 'and' inside the brackets - hence, there is no clean way to make it a simple sentence. – Anand Nov 10 '14 at 06:08
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    Stack Exchange is the best (and one of very few useful) among* question-and-answer websites in the world.* – Kris Nov 10 '14 at 08:19
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    Practically speaking, it's often the case that parenthetical statements run afoul of the various grammatical rules for count, tense, gender, et al. Usually things can be reworded to "correct" these minor rule violations, but often the rewordings are considerably less clear and free-flowing. I think a degree of tolerance is called for. – Hot Licks Nov 13 '14 at 23:20

2 Answers2

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Stack Exchange is the best of the few useful question-and-answer websites on the internet.

If you are referring or comparing a thing to something similar (of the few) then the plural (websites) is required.
If you are being specific about just one thing then;

Stack Exchange is the best question-and-answer website on the internet.

This could be the best answer you get.
This could be the worst of all the answers you get.

Joe Dark
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    Rephrasing the sentence voids the question. – Kris Nov 09 '14 at 14:23
  • @Kris wasn't the question: What is the correct way to phrase the intent of this statement in a single sentence? – Joe Dark Nov 09 '14 at 14:27
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    @Joe: But your rephrasings all discard one of the *two* points made by the original sentence (there are very few useful Q&A websites). – FumbleFingers Nov 09 '14 at 14:43
  • Note: I have fixed a typo in the location of my closing parenthesis. The intent of the statement is to convey that 1) Stack Exchange is the absolute best question-and-answer website on the internet. 2) There are only a few useful question-and-answer websites on the internet. @JoeDark your alternatives fall on either side of the intent without capturing it. Perhaps there is no way to do this without the ugly "(s)" or resorting to multiple (or a compound) sentence(s?). :-) – Anand Nov 09 '14 at 14:44
  • @Anand Perhaps I need another coffee but I'm quite sure that my answer adequately covers the 2 points you mention. – Joe Dark Nov 09 '14 at 14:55
  • @JoeDark Your answer implies that SE is the best of the few useful sites, not that it is the absolute best site. In this particular example, one might infer that the best of the few useful sites is the absolute best, but in general, that would not apply. For instance, suppose instead of "useful question and answer sites", I had said "English question and answer sites", the intent would change, since your response would imply that there may be a (say) Spanish site better than Stack Exchange. Your second response loses data that there are only a few useful Q & A sites out there. – Anand Nov 09 '14 at 15:02
  • @Joe: My mistake. I didn't properly consider your first rephrasing. I don't think Anand's point (that SE is the best of the useful sites, but there might be other "non-useful" sites that are better) represents a meaningful perspective that one could say has been either "added" or "lost". You have validly rephrased, while retaining all relevant information - which is all OP asked for. – FumbleFingers Nov 09 '14 at 15:33
  • @FumbleFingers - I agree, in the context of the original question, assuming that grammar and semantics are treated as a whole - however, if I had said "English" instead of "useful", as in my last comment, do you agree that the response is not equal? If you do, re site policy, should I modify the question to use "English" instead, or accept this here and open a follow up question? – Anand Nov 10 '14 at 04:21
  • @Anand: I can't see it makes any difference if you replace useful by another credible adjectival term (English, free-access, non-profit, well-known, etc.). It might be interesting to explore why you think that might make a difference, but that would be better covered in comments here, since as far as I can see it doesn't really lead to an independently-answerable question. – FumbleFingers Nov 10 '14 at 13:20
  • @FumbleFingers: The difference is that 'best' may be viewed as a superlative of 'useful' (sites) in this context. However, if we used something like 'English' sites instead of 'useful' sites, then my statement would say that SE is the best site (among all sites, independent of language), whereas Joe's first rephrasing would leave room for there being a non-English language site that is better than SE. Also, see the comments under the question - my question is wrong and strictly not solvable, but there is a very good answer (from Kris) that gives me what I want. – Anand Nov 10 '14 at 13:39
  • @Anand: If by "[Kris] gives me what I want" you mean Stack Exchange is the best (and one of very few useful) among* question-and-answer websites in the world, I have to say I think that's barely intelligible gibberish. I don't know if you can see my comment under Robusto's deleted answer (The damage is already done once you start mixing the best X and one of the few X's), but that is the bottom line here. The distinction you're trying to make (best* only applying to useful, English, etc.) isn't syntactically credible to me. – FumbleFingers Nov 10 '14 at 15:32
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1) Stack Exchange is the best question-and-answer website in the world.

The noun website is in the singular because Stack Exchange is singular, and if something is "the best" the noun (website) is singular. Compare: Facebook and Tumblr are the best social networking websites in the world.

2) Stack Exchange is one of the very few useful question-and-answer websites in the world.

The noun websites is in the plural because Stack Exchange is not the only useful Q&A website in the world.

Now combining the two expressions, "the best" and "one of very few useful" creates the dilemma, should the noun, website, be singular or plural? I would suggest eliminating the parenthesis.

3) Stack Exchange is one of the very few useful and best question-and-answer websites in the world.

OR

4) Stack Exchange is the best and one of the very few useful Q&A websites in the world.

Sentence No.4 is the least ambiguous.

Mari-Lou A
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    -1 because #3 is not a credible English construction. – FumbleFingers Nov 10 '14 at 15:35
  • @FumbleFingers Is that better? I forgot the article in No 2 and 3 – Mari-Lou A Nov 10 '14 at 15:38
  • 'Fraid not! Once you discard the problematic "best" element, it's just a stylistic choice whether to include the article or not. But I can't see that switching the sequence of [the] best and one of very few useful affects the fact that *website[s]* is being simultaneously (and incompatibly) applied to both singular [the] best and plural very few, regardless of whether we try to parse the latter as "exclusively" qualified by useful or useful Q&A. – FumbleFingers Nov 10 '14 at 15:53
  • @FumbleFingers I don't know what else to say or add. I sincerely thought I was being helpful. Best leave this sort of thing to the experts. – Mari-Lou A Nov 10 '14 at 18:23
  • Don't feel bad! Even Robusto tried and failed to rattle off a definitive answer, and I myself initially failed to recognise that Joe's rephrasing could be considered a "valid" solution. I think OP's friend is close to the truth (the two different statements are simply too semantically / syntactically different to be combined with such loose application of the "deletion of repeated elements" feature of English). It's a "reduction too far". – FumbleFingers Nov 10 '14 at 18:50