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    decades of research [have/has] led to sth.

    25­ Replies
    Topic

    decades of research [have/has] led to sth.

    Comment
    Hi everyone,

    I'm wondering what the correct version here is?

    Is it "decades (of research) have led ...." or "decades of (as in, lots of) research has led ..."?

    I know there's disagreement on this and people manage to argue both ways, so if you ideally had some way to back up your answer, that'd be great. Or is it just one of those cases where both is okay?
    Authoryume42 (844455) 10 May 16, 16:25
    Comment
    Test it by leaving out the descriptor "decades of".
    What tense is "research" then (plural/singular)?
    Go by that.
    #1Author Alan (De/US) (236282) 10 May 16, 17:01
    Comment
    No, don't go by that.

    And since when is singular/plural a tense?

    I don't know how to 'back up' my opinion, except by saying that 'decades of' is not merely equivalent to 'a lot of'.
    #2AuthorHecuba - UK (250280) 10 May 16, 17:32
    Comment
    Hecuba, that's what my intuition would have been as well. If "decades" is seen as a normal noun (like "dreams of research" or whatever - not that I ever have those ...) it'd definitely be the head of the phrase and "of research" would be the complement.

    But quite a lot of native speakers (including a friend of mine who is a linguist) seem to be convinced that "research" is the head of the phrase and that "decades of" is equivalent to "lots of" in this case. So now I'm pretty confused. I was hoping someone might have some sort of source to back this up either way.
    #3Authoryume42 (844455) 10 May 16, 17:52
    Comment
    OK, I meant grammatical form instead of tense for “research”.
    Keep it simple: “research” is the singular subject/object here; therefore “research has”.
    #4Author Alan (De/US) (236282) 10 May 16, 18:01
    Comment
    Google:
    "decades of research has led to" --- Cerca de 232,000 resultados
    "decades of research have led to" --- Cerca de 36,900 resultados
    #5Author Wachtelkönig (396690) 10 May 16, 18:07
    Comment
    #5 That's very interesting.
    It may indeed show that 'has' is more frequently used (and is accepted as correct). On the other hand it doesn't mean that 'have' is incorrect.
    #6AuthorHecuba - UK (250280) 10 May 16, 18:17
    Comment
    Wachtelkönig, was hältst du hiervon?

    "decades of research have led to" site:uk - Ungefähr 2.030 Ergebnisse
    "decades of research has led to" site:uk - 6 Ergebnisse
    #7Author Raudona (255425) 10 May 16, 18:37
    Comment
    Im Deutschen wird das Verb an den Plural angepaßt, z.B.: "Jahrzehnte intensiver Forschung haben ...". Derselben Logik folgend müßte es eigentlich auch im Englischen gehen.


    #8Author Wachtelkönig (396690) 10 May 16, 18:41
    Comment
    aber auch

    "decades of research has" site:uk - 31.800
    "decades of research have" site:uk - 7.520
    #9Authoryume42 (844455) 10 May 16, 18:42
    Comment
    Anscheinend geht beides:

    "decades of research have" site:nytimes.com --- Cerca de 73 resultados
    "decades of research has" site:nytimes.com --- Cerca de 100 resultados
    #10Author Wachtelkönig (396690) 10 May 16, 18:46
    Comment
    #4: “research” is the singular subject/object here - er, the object has nothing to do with the verb here, and "research" is not the subject (or, for that matter, the object); "decades of research" is the subject.

    Like Hecuba, I would use the plural form for that reason.

    #11Author Spike BE (535528) 10 May 16, 18:49
    Comment
    yume, ich habe deine Suche wiederholt und gleich den ersten Link angeklickt. Da kommt innerhalb eines zusammenhängenden Artikels zwei Mal "decades of research" vor:

    Decades of research show that there is ...
    Decades of research has shown that his theory applies to ...

    Offenbar gibt es den grammatischen und den inhaltlichen Ansatz: Das grammatische Subjekt ist "decades", so dass das Verb im Plural stehen muss. Inhaltlich wahrgenommen wird aber "research", also Singular.

    Vergleichbar ist das mit dem deutschen "Mädchen", das grammatisch Neutrum ist, auf das aber meist mit Femininum referiert wird: "das Mädchen holte ihre Schultasche ..."

    Und natürlich haben wir auch ein Äquivalent zu "a lot of": "eine ganze Menge Leute glauben ...".
    #12Author Raudona (255425) 10 May 16, 18:59
    Comment
    My vote, for what it's worth, is absolutely for 'Decades of research have ...'

    I agree with Hecuba that it's not analogous to 'a lot of' or 'a number of' -- though I understand that it's hard for non-native speakers to know when something is in which category, and precisely with singular and plural, German logic and English logic often differ.

    Singular/plural errors are one of the most common problems even among native speakers. You might have better luck finding examples of the correct version if you limited it to edited publications in journals based in English-speaking countries. But even there, mistakes happen.

    (Psst: both is okay —> both are okay . )

    I checked the Chicago Manual for you looking for a citation, but unfortunately they only have a little paragraph about mass nouns and another one about number with verbs, neither with many specific examples.

    I can only offer you analogies with other quantitative expressions of time, all of which I would read as clearly simply plural.

    Weeks of illness have kept him out of work.
    Years of study have paid off in a full scholarship.
    Decades of neglect have contributed to deplorable conditions for urban slum dwellers.
    Months of research have taken their toll on exhausted graduate students.
    etc.
    #13Author hm -- us (236141) 10 May 16, 21:15
    Comment
    Ich bin auch für "have". Ich habe gerade mal ausschließlich auf der Seite von sciencedirect.com gesucht, auf der man Zugriff auf Publikationen einer großen Anzahl wissenschaftlicher Zeitschriften hat.

    "decades of research have" site:sciencedirect.com - 102 Ergebnisse*
    "decades of research has" site:sciencedirect.com - 18 Ergebnisse

    Dasselbe bei Elsevier:
    "decades of research have" site:elsevier.com - 59 Ergebnisse
    "decades of research has" site:elsevier.com - 15 Ergebnisse

    Ich könnte mir vorstellen, dass das Gefühl den einen oder anderen muttersprachlichen Wissenschaftler vielleicht in die Irre führt, weil man so oft (unzählige Male) "research has shown" schreibt. Dadurch festigt sich diese Kombination, so dass es vielleicht auch bei einer Modifikation noch automatisch "drin" ist.

    *Da sind allerdings auch andere Formulierungen dabei, wie "four decades ..." / "many decades ..."
    #14Author Nica (de) (236745) 10 May 16, 21:52
    Comment
    I think the conclusions and examples hm--us presents in #13 are well founded and represent good advice.

    However, compare these two sentences:

    Years of research show that (pineapples make bad pillows).

    Research over many years shows that (pineapples make bad pillows).

    I think many language "rules" have a distinct element of arbitrariness in them.
    #15AuthorHappyWarrior (964133) 10 May 16, 21:56
    Comment
    Pardon me, but
    Years of research show ...
    and
    Research over many years shows ...

    are two completely different scenarios. You could for example, separate "research" from "over many years" by commas (if you wanted to): Research, (done) over many years, shows ... There's a clear separation.

    And fwiw, I'm also with the "plural support group" in the OP's case.

    #16Author dude (253248) 10 May 16, 22:09
    Comment
    Do you think "Many years of research" means something different from "Research over many years"?

    #17AuthorHappyWarrior (964133) 10 May 16, 22:20
    Comment
    Yes, and not only from a grammatical aspect. Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but "many years of research" sounds (to me) like more of an effort was made than with "research over many years."
    #18Author dude (253248) 10 May 16, 22:38
    Comment
    I would personally use "Decades of research have... " in this example (assuming it is the beginning of a sentence) because that is the idiom I am familiar with.
    I would, however, expect
    "The past two decades of research has ...".
     
    Since "decades of" can be regarded a a single period, even if no number is supplied, I would be loth to classify the singular form of the verb as incorrect.
     
    I would generally expect BE to use notional agreement more frequently than AE.
    #19AuthorMikeE (236602) 10 May 16, 22:54
    Comment
    Another vote for have. But I wouldn't agonize over it too much; the alternative with "has" really doesn't sound all that bad.
    #20Author Martin--cal (272273) 11 May 16, 02:47
    Comment
    reg. #16 - #18: Vielleicht ist es Haarspalterei, aber auch ich frage mich, wie Jahrzehnte zu etwas tun können.

    Auf Deutsch sieht es so aus:

    a) Jahrzehnte der Forschung führten zu ....

    b) Jahrzehntelange Forschng führte zu ...

    Wenn "Jahrzehnte" das Subjekt sind, dann frage ich mich, ob eine Periode an sich zu etwas führen kann, denn eigentlich kann nur die Forschung selber zu Erkenntnissen führen, nicht aber die Zeit.

    Haarspalterei, hm?

    #21Author Uljae (831733) 11 May 16, 08:47
    Comment
    What does the showing?
    years
    or
    research?
    It's "research" and "research" is singular.
    Can't it be that simple?
    #22Author Alan (De/US) (236282) 11 May 16, 09:39
    Comment
    Ich glaube nicht, dass es so einfach ist. Vergl. #12 von Raudona:

    Offenbar gibt es den grammatischen und den inhaltlichen Ansatz: Das grammatische Subjekt ist "decades", so dass das Verb im Plural stehen muss. Inhaltlich wahrgenommen wird aber "research", also Singular.

    Die Grammatik bildet hier offensichtlich nicht die Logik ab, besonders deutlich wird das für mich, wenn ich den deutschen Satz mit dem Genitiv nehme:

    Jahre der Forschung haben gezeigt, ..... hier kann im Deutschen nur der Plural haben stehen, aber dann sind es die Jahre, die etwas gezeigt haben. Was irgendwie ein bissl komisch ist.

    #23Author Uljae (831733) 11 May 16, 09:45
    Comment
    http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/sentences/2...
    Subjects and verbs must agree in number. ... Prepositional phrases between the subject and verb usually do not affect agreement: The colors of the rainbow are beautiful.

    A subject will come before a phrase beginning with of. This is a key rule for understanding subjects. The word of is the culprit in many, perhaps most, subject-verb mistakes.
    Incorrect: A bouquet of yellow roses lend color and fragrance to the room.
    Correct: A bouquet of yellow roses lends . . . (bouquet lends, not roses lend)

    Daher würde ich "decades of research have" sagen, da sich das Verb auf decades bezieht.

    #24Author trollblume (1096283) 11 May 16, 18:15
    Comment
    #24
    ... but note that your first link has
    "The singular verb form is usually used for units of measurement or time."
    and your second link has
    " Use a singular verb with distances, periods of time, sums of money, etc., when considered as a unit."

    However, it is not that simple, either.
    #25AuthorMikeE (236602) 11 May 16, 19:00
     
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