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When referring to literature in the sense of academic literature or philosophical literature I have sometimes heard people use the noun as if it were similar to the word 'people.' For example: 'The literature have confirmed this hypothesis.' I have also heard people use the noun as if it were singular (e.g. 'The literature has confirmed this hypothesis.'

Is there one usage that is more acceptable/correct in formal writing?

pavja2
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    The literature has is correct; the literature have is not correct, IMO. Ngram says this, FWIW. – Drew Dec 01 '14 at 04:43
  • See some of the similar questions of the past on this site. Many words have this double-existence. E.g., http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/58692/is-audience-singular-or-plural?rq=1 http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/157166/is-statistics-singular-or-plural?rq=1 – Kris Dec 01 '14 at 06:18

1 Answers1

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Literature is typically used to describe a collective body of writings; as such, it takes a singular verb despite the fact it refers to many works. The word is almost always preceded by an adjective or attributive noun to identify a specific body of works:

English literature

scientific literature

product literature (archaic)

Literature also connotes writings of higher quality within the category and can be used in a plural form, literatures, but is rarely called for.

Of all the Asian literatures, Asian poetry attracts me most.

Tightwriter
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