PDA

View Full Version : Is the word "Muslims" not plural ???? :0



tuboludo
07-07-2014, 01:17 PM
When I write this sentence Word grammar will only accept “Muslims” as singular, not plural. When I change IS to ARE, it marks it as a mistake?????

“The biggest threat in the future is the Muslims.”

Could it be that Word see the word “Muslims” as a singular word because, because “Muslims” is a group, one particular group of people???

Further more,

When I Google “it is the Muslims” I get 58,100,000 results

When I Google “it are the Muslims” I get 16,100,000 results

Pumpkin337
07-07-2014, 02:00 PM
Although 'Muslims' is plural it is a singular group ie there is only one group of Muslims not several groups.

Similarly -

The herd of horses is running free.

Many horses but one herd.

However if you said:

The Muslims in the school are insisting on wearing headscarves

Then you are talking about the collection of individuals in the plural.

108 fountains
07-07-2014, 02:20 PM
It's plural. Word's grammar checker is a nice tool to have, but I would not rely on it to be 100% correct all the time.

Also, on your examples, "It is the Muslims" is correct, and "it are the Muslims" is incorrect. That goes back to one of your earlier questions. In these examples, "It" is the subject, and "Muslims" is the predicate nominative. The verb always agrees with the subject no matter if the predicate nominative is singular or plural. Some examples:

The biggest threat is the Muslims...
The Muslims are the biggest threat...
Her allure was her beauty and her personality.
Her beauty and her personality were her allure.
What they need is fair wages.
Fair wages are what they need.
His downfall was his many affairs.
His many affairs were his downfall.
Too many guns are the cause of the problem.
The cause of the problem is too many guns.
An example of his technique is fine brushstrokes.
Fine brushstrokes are an example of his technique.

tuboludo
07-07-2014, 03:26 PM
It's plural.

Thanks 108 fountains.

So I can’t say: “The biggest threat in the future is the fanatic Muslims” ?????

My concern here is that I want to say “threat” not “threats”

Words accepts the sentence above, but it also accepts the sentences below where I keep “threat”, but place a comma before “are” in order to make “Muslims” plural.

“The biggest threat in the future, are the fanatic Muslims such as the Muslim Brothers, Takfir wal-Hijra and others who will follow in their footsteps.”

Man, I am really hung out on this one :(

tuboludo
07-08-2014, 05:49 AM
The biggest threat is the Muslims...
The Muslims are the biggest threat...


So once again reading through your post I am coming to the conclusion that this sentence somewhat is grammatically correct:

“The biggest threat in the future is the fanatic Muslims”

108 fountains
07-08-2014, 02:29 PM
Hi tuboludo,

Yes, “The biggest threat in the future is the fanatic Muslims” is grammatically correct.

tuboludo
07-09-2014, 02:29 AM
Hi tuboludo,

Yes, “The biggest threat in the future is the fanatic Muslims” is grammatically correct.

Thank you so much. Got a nice cigar for you (and the other boys who have been helping me put) if we should meet one day ;)