"Shame on you, Barack Obama"

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

Does "which" always have to be singular?

The question is asking "which one of these people" so the correct verb is "does not deserve" not "do not deserve."

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

The question is asking "which one of these people" so the correct verb is "does not deserve" not "do not deserve."

No, it doesn't actually if you read the poster at the link. It says "which of these people" which I think could be either singular or plural depending on if you could only choose one or more than one. (unless it's been changed)

Unless I'm missing something, there's no reason why one would assume only one of the group pictured doesn't deserve health care, rather than two or three.

(This assumes of course that everyone is entitled to health insurance as a matter of governmental responsibility, rather than my real response which would be "which among those people can afford to purchase health insurance ands elects not too?" Those don't deserve it, IMO.)

I'm with you though, that it seems awkwardly phrased, and have I written the slogan, I would have figured some other way of expressing it so that no one would question if it was grammatical.

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

No, it doesn't actually if you read the poster at the link. It says "which of these people" which I think could be either singular or plural depending on if you could only choose one or more than one. (unless it's been changed)

Unless I'm missing something, there's no reason why one would assume only one of the group pictured doesn't deserve health care, rather than two or three.

"Which" is a relative pronoun in the sentence. What is "which" referring to? It is referring to an understood "one" because there is no other useable noun in the sentence - it can't refer to a noun within a prepositional phrase (i.e. "of these people"). "One" is singular, therefore, the verb has to be singular. If the sentence said "Which people don't deserve health care?" the verb "don't" would be appropriate, because "which" would be referring to "people" which is plural.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

"Which" is a relative pronoun in the sentence. What is "which" referring to? It is referring to an understood "one" because there is no other useable noun in the sentence - it can't refer to a noun within a prepositional phrase (i.e. "of these people"). "One" is singular, therefore, the verb has to be singular. If the sentence said "Which people don't deserve health care?" the verb "don't" would be appropriate, because "which" would be referring to "people" which is plural.

If you're going to be a grammar nazi, it's important to be right.

The word "one" isn't present and there's no reason that the subject would need to be singular or that "one" would be understood to be present. It could just as easily by understood to be "three."

There is no clear referent for "which," which by the way is probably functioning as an interrogative pronoun rather than as a relative pronoun. Any number of people in the photo could be the "which." It doesn't have to be understood to be singular and is probably more effective as an ad if it's understood to be plural.

Again, I probably wouldn't have set it up to read like that because it was going to bug some people, but you are insisting that it's incorrect as written, and I don't think it is.

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

If you're going to be a grammar nazi, it's important to be right.

Nazi? No. The ad is a reflection on the campaign, not on you. There's no need to defend the people who decided this ad was good to go.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

Nazi? No. The ad is a reflection on the campaign, not on you. There's no need to defend the people who decided this ad was good to go.

But from a purely grammatical point of view, it was good to go.

There's enough out there to keep you busy if you just worry about the stuff that's actually wrong or if you just want to focus on health care without expanding into the stuff that's awkward because you're not sure of the number intended in advance.

And with the grammar nazi comment, I include myself in that anytime I'm going to call someone out. It's one thing to correct or comment on something that's wrong. It's something else to correct or comment on something that turns out to be right.

ETA: but I wrote Bosnia when I meant Serbia early this week, so I'm really not trying to pretend I'm upholding some high standard of commentary.