tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post8136892741562599539..comments2023-11-12T13:22:30.358+01:00Comments on andrewjshields: There was / were a huge numberAndrew Shieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post-31208742290133746402012-01-16T16:05:00.846+01:002012-01-16T16:05:00.846+01:00I would put it differently: if the majority says o...I would put it differently: if the majority says one thing, and a minority says another, then, at least as far as that particular point is concerned, the majority is speaking one variety of a language, and the minority is speaking a second variety of that language.<br /><br />That is, there is not one variety of English that is correct, and everything that goes counter to it is incorrect. There are many different variations within and between varieties. <br /><br />With most varieties, you can tell that it's still English, because the majority of the patterns of English hold true.<br /><br />One recent post I found fascinating: <br /><br />http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2011/10/31/permalinks-ensparbulation-etc/Andrew Shieldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post-60342770775757781782012-01-16T13:27:23.552+01:002012-01-16T13:27:23.552+01:00You seem to be assuming that the majority cannot b...You seem to be assuming that the majority cannot be wrong ... but they can.<br /><br />Would you say "There was a lot of people"? ... I doubt it.<br /><br />So would you say "There was a number of people"? ... No?<br /><br />So then why would you say "There was a huge number of people"? It's not correct, even if a huge number of people does it ;-)Rosienoreply@blogger.com