I ended my last post with:
"... about half of all visits to our site comes from hers."
Did I get it right? Or should it be "half... come?"
***
And then I changed the line entirely. When in doubt, re-word.
-- SJ
Monday, August 25, 2008
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5 comments:
"Come" is correct. The [objects][performing the action] come from [location].
It would, though, be correct to state that "Half of [all traffic] comes from her site."
anonymous beat me to it.
"Half" itself is a singular term, so it gets a singular verb/modifier/article, "comes" being the singular form.
But in that phrase you mentioned, "comes" was modifying "visits" (plural), so the word should have been "come" (plural).
all come, half come, one comes
Half is singular, so it's "half comes."
Wouldn't it still be "half [of all visits] comes" because the bracketed phrase is a prepositional phrase, which doesn't change the verb itself? Verbs never modify the prepositional phrase, but the subject itself.
The exception is if "half" is a changeable one like "all" ("all of the class" = singular; "all of the grapes" = plural). Half is never plural, though, is it?
-- SJ
It's "half...come," but I don't know why.
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