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Sentence in question :
Claims about harmful effects of the genetic alteration of vegetables are more speculation than documented fact.
Should the nouns speculation and fact be plural because they refer to the plural claims?
plural and singular agreement of nouns
Answers
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Your plurals would be grammatically correct, but there is nothing wrong with the sentence as such. As FumbleFingers mentioned, its just style!
Alex
Posted 2014-08-23T15:58:13.800
Reputation: 128
1No. Grammmatically you could make a case for (optionally) using plurals there, but stylistically I'd say singular is better. I might put the indefinite article before "harmful effects" rather than "genetic", but it's all just stylistic choices. – FumbleFingers Reinstate Monica – 2014-08-23T17:09:14.290
Compare *Claims about the harmful effects of cellphone radiation are more speculation than documented fact.* You wouldn't move the article there. – FumbleFingers Reinstate Monica – 2014-08-23T17:14:08.550