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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004Plural or singular meaning?
Hello community, I've got an intriguing question for native speakers. Some may consider it a matter of hair splitting, however, here is the sentence from a speech on glabalisation by Kofi Annan: ... It has resulted in endless enmity and conflict, leading men and women to commit the greatest of crimes in the name of a higher power. is "the greatest of crimes" plural or singular. (the German translation requires our decision, is it: "das groesste Verbrechen" or "die groessten Verbrechen") kind regards and many thanks Emil Kofi Annan: >> ... It has resulted in endless enmity and conflict, leading men and >> women to commit the greatest of crimes in the name of a higher power. Emil Veit: > [I]s "the greatest of crimes" plural or singular[?] Expressions like "the greatest" can be plural or singular, depending on the context. "The greatest teams in hockey in those days were the Maple Leafs, the Red Wings, and the Canadiens." "No, the greatest team was the Soviet national team." Annan could have said "the greatest crimes" or "the greatest crime", which would enable us to tell singular from plural, but he didn't; the expression that suited his sense best was "the greatest of crimes", and that could, in isolation, be read either way. This time, however, I think it's clearly plural. What Annan is talking about <http://www.nobel.se/peace/laureates/2001/annan-lecture.html> is the all-too-pervasive "notion that what is ours is necessarily in conflict with what is theirs". This is likely to lead to many crimes of many kinds, suggesting the plural interpretation. Moreover, in a formal context like this, if a reference to "the greatest of crimes" was meant in the singular, the speaker would surely either explicitly state what specific crime they consider to be the greatest (for example, genocide), or would make sure that it was clear from context (for example, by talking about the Holocaust) -- otherwise people might miss the point. And Annan didn't do that. So, as I say, I think it's clearly meant as plural.  SignatureMark Brader, Toronto | "[That] statement is so full of hubris msb@vex.net | you can hear the wax melting." -- Steve Summit My text in this article is in the public domain. > I've got an intriguing question for native speakers. Some may > consider it a matter of hair splitting, however, here is the [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > translation requires our decision, is it: "das groesste Verbrechen" > or "die groessten Verbrechen") Almost certainly plural. I think that the context would have to have already established which crime he specifically meant for me to take it as singular. So, if he was already talking specifically about, say, genocide, and this was clearly what he was referring to, it would be singular. Otherwise, it's an unspecified set of really bad crimes. SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |If all else fails, embarrass the 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |industry into doing the right Palo Alto, CA 94304 |thing. | Dean Thompson kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com (650)857-7572 http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ > Hello community, > I've got an intriguing question for native speakers. Some may consider it a [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > (the German translation requires our decision, is it: "das groesste > Verbrechen" or "die groessten Verbrechen") Because English does not make adjectives decline, "greatest" could be either singular or plural. Since you know the source, you could ask him: but if there is no reply you are free to use groesste or groessten as you prefer. -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) > Hello community, > I've got an intriguing question for native speakers. Some may [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Emil Can be either. 'Murder is the greatest of crimes'. 'Murder, rape and blasphemy are the greatest of crimes'. But he probably means it as a plural -- John Dean Oxford De-frag to reply |
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