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There is a group of people that is very smart.

My question is: Does the word that always modify the closest noun phrase? If so, the word students is modified by that here, and the correct version would be:

There is a group of people that are very smart.

If I am right, another question: Is Trump wrong in terms of grammar?

He said: There is a group of people that is very sick

https://youtu.be/m5YDIWXzRaI?t=16s

Edwin Ashworth
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2 Answers2

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The antecedent of a relative pronoun may depend on things other than proximity. Number, for instance. If I say

The Rockies is a range of mountains that is very large

I'm talking about a group of mountains, and that grouping covers a large area. The mountains themselves may be large or not. Range is singular, and so is the verb (is) of the relative clause. Thus the antecedent of that must be range. On the other hand, if I say

The Rockies is a range of mountains that are very large

I'm talking about a group of sizable mountains. The plural verb are must agree with the plural noun mountains, so the antecedent of that must be mountains.

Calling a group of sick people a sick group is acceptable, certainly in extemporaneous speech, so I wouldn't call Trump's statement ungrammatical.

deadrat
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  • +1 for making the title easier to improve (and a clearer example) (and the point about the transferred epithet). I find it almost impossible to believe that this hasn't been asked before. ... ... ... Ah, got it. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 15 '17 at 11:55
  • A further complication involves the grammaticality of the predicative version when using transferred epithets. 'I had a quiet pint' is fine, but 'I had a pint that was quiet' very iffy. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 15 '17 at 12:31
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'That' does not have to always refer to the closest noun. In fact, in the sentence

There is a group of people that is very smart,

that refers to the 'group' of people, not to the noun 'people'. So, the usage of 'is' is appropriate in the sentence.

The answer to your second question is, evidently, no. Trump is grammatically correct in this sentence.

Actually, this question is about restrictive clauses and non-restrictive clauses. For referring to multiple objects, you should use 'which'. For details, you must have a look here.

satnam
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  • This interpretation with this example (contrast deadrat's) has to involve some figure of speech, as it has to be the people who are smart. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 15 '17 at 11:44
  • @EdwinAshworth you are correct to observe that I am qualifying the 'group' as smart. This interpretation concurs with deadrat's first example where the 'range' is qualified as large. – satnam Mar 15 '17 at 12:01
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    But 'large range' means 'a range that is large' not 'a range whose mountains are large' whereas 'smart group' must mean 'a group whose members are large'. Not incorrect, but a subtlety that deadrat picks up on. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 15 '17 at 12:24
  • +1 for explaining the dissimilitude between the two usages. – satnam Mar 15 '17 at 12:47