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I'm having a dilemma of identifying the subject in the following sentence.

The number of teens using their cell phones while driving has doubled.

The correct subject here is 'number' but why not 'teens'? Is it because of the preposition in front of 'teens' which is 'of teens'?

The verb 'has' depend on the subject 'number'. My question is why not 'teens' is the subject here?

ever alian
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  • The number of X has doubled. It is not the number of all teens that has doubled. It is the number of X which has doubled, where X = teens using their cell phones while driving. – Nigel J Jan 29 '18 at 07:47
  • @NigelJ so you mean, it's not because of the 'of teens' ? – ever alian Jan 29 '18 at 07:50
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    There are several nouns: "number", "teens", "cell", "phones". – BillJ Jan 29 '18 at 07:54
  • @BillJ The verb is depend on "number" or "teens". But in this sentence the verb is based on the "number" noun. Not "teens". My question is why is that? – ever alian Jan 29 '18 at 08:00
  • The subject noun phrase is singular by virtue of having singular non-transparent "number" as head, and hence the verb is singular too. – BillJ Jan 29 '18 at 08:10
  • @NigelJ "Of teens" is not part of the predicate, but part of the subject, which is "the number of teens using their cell phones while driving". "Number" is singular, and importantly non-transparent, and thus the whole NP is singular for verb agreement purposes. – BillJ Jan 29 '18 at 08:19
  • Compare "The number of teens has... and "A number of teens have ..., to see the difference between number-transparent "a number" and non-transparent "the number". – BillJ Jan 29 '18 at 08:25
  • @BillJ How 'The number of teens' become singular? it's more than 1 teen. So Isn't it be plural? – ever alian Jan 29 '18 at 08:34
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    No, the verb form in your example is determined by the head of the NP, i.e. the non-transparent "number", which is singular in form. See my last comment for the difference between number-transparent "the number of teens has" and non-transparent "a number of teens have". The former indicates a definite number of teens, while the latter indicates an indefinite number of teens. – BillJ Jan 29 '18 at 08:40
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – BillJ Jan 29 '18 at 08:43
  • The 'correct agreement with a/the number of ...' issue has been covered at a number of questions has been or have been asked, though as the valuable general analysis into number-transparent and non-transparent items is not given there, perhaps some moderator juggling is advisable. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 29 '18 at 17:39

4 Answers4

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It's not about "identifying the (correct) noun"; it's about identifying the subject, because you're asking about the subject-verb agreement.

The number of teens using their cell phones while driving has doubled.

Here, the subject is shown in bold. In order to determine the number (singular or plural) of the subject, you need to figure out what the subject refers to. Does it refer to the number or teens?

You can easily figure out that it refers to the number unless you have no idea what the sentence means. In which case, you should be asking a different question on this sentence. But I'm pretty sure you do know what it means. So you know that the subject refers to the number.

Now, what the subject refers to is in the singular, so the verb must be in the singular as well. And that's called the subject-verb agreement.

JK2
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  • Hi, Yes you are correct. My bad. I've corrected the question. I'm talking about how to find the correct Subject. Because in the question I should fill has/have. So I should select the correct subject here. Please tell me the rule behind how did you select the 'the number' as the subject here? – ever alian Jan 29 '18 at 08:25
  • Please re-read my answer. I did not say I selected 'the number' as the subject. The subject is the whole thing in bold type. – JK2 Jan 29 '18 at 09:34
  • Hi, Ok, even the whole thing, it's more than one teen, Right? So isn't it plural ? – ever alian Jan 29 '18 at 09:51
  • If you sincerely think so, I'm afraid you don't understand what the sentence means. If you don't understand the sentence, there's no point in figuring out the correct verb form. – JK2 Jan 29 '18 at 10:02
  • @everalian So you’re saying you think the teens have doubled? How exactly does a person double? Did they make clones of them? No, the number doubled, from, say, 10,000 to 20,000. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jan 29 '18 at 11:30
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The subject is not any individual noun; rather, the subject is the phrase, "The number of teens using their cell phones while driving".

The reason this phrase is singular is that it's not referring to the teens themselves, but rather to the number you'd get if you counted them. (You can tell this because the verb "doubled" only makes sense in relation to the number, not in relation to the people.)

ruakh
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Let's say you have the task of picking up any balls left on the gym floor and putting them in a large box in the corner.

A number of balls were left on the floor.

There are obviously more than one, so a plural verb is required. Let's count them. There are six. You now toss the six balls into the box.

The number of balls in the box has now increased by six.

If you know for a fact that there are a dozen balls in total, then

The number of balls in the box has now doubled.

In your sentence, what has doubled is the number of teens, just like the number of balls in the box. This requires a singular verb.

KarlG
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The answer by KarlG is correct.
This quote from CMOS 5.9 Mass noun followed by a prepositional phrase may help explain the principle involved.

Mass nouns are sometimes followed by a prepositional phrase, such as number of plus a plural noun.
The article that precedes the mass noun signals whether the mass noun or the number of the noun in the prepositional phrase controls the number of the verb.
- If a definite article (the) precedes, the mass noun controls, and typically a singular verb is used {the quantity of pizzas ordered this year has increased}.
- If an indefinite article (a or an) precedes, then the number of the noun in the prepositional phrase controls {a small percentage of the test takers have failed the exam}.

Ross Murray
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  • If your answer is correct (and it is) then Karl's answer can't be correct. However, as your answer says that Karl's answer is correct, your answer contradicts itself and is therefore wrong. However, were you to remove the offending reference to Karl's answer, then I would be able to upvote your answer by virtue of it now being correct. – Araucaria - Him Jan 29 '18 at 14:31