2

I'm writing a paper and I am not sure how to word this sentence. Which is the correct sentence:

  1. I am able to avoid a pitfall into which many a student has fallen.

  2. I am able to avoid a pitfall into which many a student have fallen.

I think the correct one is the first one since has agrees with student, but both sort of 'sound right' to me. Maybe because have agrees with many, you know? Can anyone tell me which is the correct wording?

RegDwigнt
  • 97,231
RedCaio
  • 369
  • The question here and the other one there do not ask the same thing. Here, the question is about subject-verb agreement with the construct "many a + singular noun"; there, the question is about the context in which "many a" can be used. – asef Apr 05 '16 at 05:24
  • @asef: the answers there do answer this question here, though. – RegDwigнt Apr 05 '16 at 07:13

1 Answers1

4

The first is correct:

  1. I am able to avoid a pitfall into which many a student has fallen.

The second could be modified to take a plural noun and still retain an equivalent meaning:

  1. I am able to avoid a pitfall into which many students have fallen.

I believe the choice is just down to preference.

mjsqu
  • 672