代名詞與先行詞的一致性

今天的課是上代名詞跟先行詞的一致性，印象中代名詞好像是國中的課程，不過，今天的題目錯的還不少，例如 The number of ...與 A number of ...的差別還有 neither of... 以及 Every/Each，還有一些名詞雖然句尾有 s ，但實際上指的是Group，這時候也不能用複數代名詞，還有 a few 雖然是 a 開題，但指的也是複數。

The number of... 與 a number of...

• The number of -- singlar

The number of books is placed on the table.

• A number of -- plural

A number of people are watching the concert.
Neither/Either of 指的也是單數，如： Neither of the children will do her work.
而連接詞 neither, either, or 則是要看靠近動詞的先行詞為複數或單數，來決定是否為複數或單數代名詞：
Captain Parker or his men were rescued on their fourth day at sea.
Neither the attendants nor pilot the gave his opinion about the mishap.
Every/Each 指的是單數，如：Every cat, dog, and rabbit had received its vaccine.
Some of... 並不一定指的就是複數，要依後面的名詞而定，若 of 後面接的是不可數名詞，則需用單數代名詞，如：Some of the sugar fell out of its bag. 不只是 some，還有 any, none, all, most 都適用此規則：Some indefinite pronouns that are modified by a prepositional phrase may be either singular or plural.
A few 的使用：Many people saw the show, but only a few reported their reactions to it.