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Which sentence is right?

A group of people that are

OR

A group of people that is

I am aware that there is this grammar rule concerning relative pronoun that states something along the lines if 'X of Y that ABC' then ABC must agree in tense of the Y and not the X. However, I am not sure if this is also applicable for a group of people that ... because a number of people that (in this case must be) are...

It would be great if you guys could help explain!

herisson
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Mimster
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  • Although 'group' is singular, plural override is strongly favoured with singular agreement sounding unacceptably pedantic ("A group of people were seen", not "was seen"). That coupled with the fact that "people" is plural here ("A group of six people") means that plural agreement ("are") is standard. – BillJ Aug 21 '16 at 12:54
  • It depends on the sentence. A group of people that is fighting among itself sounds really terrible to me, but so does A group of people that are too big to fit in the minivan. – Peter Shor Aug 21 '16 at 13:04
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    This may vary between US and UK. – GEdgar Aug 21 '16 at 13:24
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    This is an attachment ambiguity. It could be analyzed as [a group of people] [that is waiting for you], where the the relative clause modifies a singular noun group, or as [a group of people [that are waiting for you]], where the relative clause modifies a plural noun people. – John Lawler Aug 21 '16 at 13:56

1 Answers1

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Peter’s van riders should resolve John’s ambiguity.

If each person is of ordinary size but there are too many of them, it is the group which is too big, not any of the members individually. An alternative might be “a group too large to fit in the minivan.”

If the van door is of ordinary size but every person is gargantuan then it is the size of the individuals that matters, although in fact both will be too big. Reducing membership of the group to a single gargant would not permit the fit. An alternative might be “a group of people each too large to fit in the minivan.”

Robbie Goodwin
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