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A typographer sent back some corrections:

My sentence: "A second set of motors are attached there".
His correction: "A second set of motors is attached there".

I checked on this site and this site, and both support the typographer's version.

Similarly:

My sentence: "Motions toward the right were restricted".
His correction: "Motions towards the right were restricted".

From my exposure to English, the "is" and the "towards" in these sentences give me a strong feeling that they are wrong. I understand that "a set of motors" is considered one entity, which justifies the "is", but shouldn't we consider the fact that we are talking about a first set of motors and a second set of motors, which makes it two sets, therefore making it plural (and thus justifies the "are")?
Similarly, "motions towards" somehow sounds like butler English, while "motions toward" sounds refined. "Motion towards" would have been ok, but something seems wrong with "Motions towards".

Is my English knowledge bad and do I need to learn some nuances or is my intuition right?

Eddie Kal
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Julia
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    Your two questions aren't really similar. Even though a suffix "s" is used to create plurals, the difference between "toward" and "towards" has nothing to do with singular vs. plural. – Barmar May 05 '21 at 14:34
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    "which makes it two sets, therefore making it plural" -- if you'd said "Two sets of motors are attached there", then you'd use plural. But just because there's another set of motors just next to the one you're pointing at doesn't make that one set plural. (Disregarding plural collective nouns.) Compare e.g. "My car is there in the parking lot, next to the red one" (my car is still just one car, even if there's others in the lot). – ilkkachu May 06 '21 at 10:22

2 Answers2

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My sentence: "A second set of motors are attached there".

His correction: "A second set of motors is attached there".

In British English, both versions are correct (because collective nouns such as "set", "group", "team", "club", "committee", "government" can take plural nouns instead of singular ones). In American English, most people would only accept "is", because singular agreement is usually required for collective nouns.

You asked:

shouldn't we consider the fact that we are talking about a first set of motors and a second set of motors, which makes it two sets, therefore making it plural?

No: this is irrelevant. The sentence concerns the second set and only relates to that set.

My sentence: "Motions toward the right were restricted".

His correction: "Motions towards the right were restricted".

In American English, "toward" is five times as common in print as "towards" (M-W Learner's Dictionary). In British English, "towards" is much more common than "toward".

rjpond
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    This webpage from the BBC is helpful here. However, it suggests that because of the use of the indefinite article ‘a’, we would more commonly use a singular verb. Certainly to me (a British English speaker), ‘is’ sounds more natural here. – Nick Kennedy May 05 '21 at 19:09
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    Upvoted for addressing the "two sets" issue. It doesn't matter how many sets exist; you're only referring to one of them. If you were to say "Both the first and second set of motors are attached there", "are" would be correct, because you're referring to multiple sets. – Tim Sparkles May 05 '21 at 19:48
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    I heartily disagree that "a set" can take the plural, even though team/company/government etc can. – DoneWithThis. May 06 '21 at 08:52
  • @gonefishin'again. We each have our own idiolect, but - for example - https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2guides/guides/wrtps/index-eng.html?lang=eng&lettr=indx_catlog_v&page=95TrTtTB_flE.html agrees "set" is a collective n. that can take pl., & see https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/methodologicalpublications/generalmethodology/onsworkingpaperseries/onsmethodologyworkingpaperseriesnumber12acomparisonofindexnumbermethodologyusedonukwebscrapedpricedata ; http://www.met.rdg.ac.uk/radar/experiments.html ; https://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEnotes/articles/general-articles/2014/what-knee-meniscus – rjpond May 06 '21 at 09:06
  • Additionally, a highly knowledgeable commenter commented "set can be plural when it refers to a plural thing, just like any other collective noun in English" at https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/68977/a-singular-verb-or-a-plural-after-a-set-of-numerals . Besides, as a native speaker, my intuition, too, is that "set" can be treated as plural. – rjpond May 06 '21 at 09:09
  • Very late to the game, but I feel like the singular vs plural in this is entirely based on the focus of the speaker. Suppose that the preceding text had carefully described how and where 10 motors were installed on the left side of a machine, then it moves to the right. "A second set of motors are attached here." We've got 10 more motors to worry about. If instead the motors are part of an assembly that attaches easily on one spot, and the text described how that assembly was installed on the left, then moves right. "A second set of motors is attached here." As is so often true, context! – Jason Patterson Oct 14 '23 at 12:41
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The version A second set of motors is attached here. is correct. The subject of "is" is the word "set", a singular noun. The preposition phrase "of motors" describes the set, but the subject is still singular.

As for toward versus towards, that is not a difference in number, but simply one of the spelling and sound of the word.

Merriam-Webster toward or towards?

While toward is more common in American English and towards is more common in British English, there is no etymological reason why this is the case.

So, that one doesn't make any difference, but your typographer may be working with some spelling rules that require towards with an 's'.

Jack O'Flaherty
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    as a Brit, I will say that whilst I'd generally use "towards" in most cases, it sounds a bit awkward to my ears immediately following "motions" so in this particular case I might use "toward" – Tristan May 05 '21 at 15:17
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    As another Brit I agree with @Tristan: "motions towards" sounds a bit ungainly to me and I'd prefer "motions toward". And, as rjpond's answer states, in BrE, "a second set ... are attached" is also perfectly valid. There's nothing wrong with either of your sentences, but as a matter of house style, the typographer is not doing anything wrong with changing them, either. – tea-and-cake May 05 '21 at 18:12
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    @tea-and-cake Wait, does British English not have collective nouns? – Daniel May 05 '21 at 21:51
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    It does, but with collectives, sometimes we use plural verb forms (eg during a cricket match, it's definitely "England are winning", never "England is winning"), sometimes it's singular, and sometimes we can use either plural or singular verb forms, with subtly different connotations. One standard example used to illustrate it is: "the government is divided" vs "the government are united", in the first case emphasising it's a single entity which is nonetheless without accord; in the latter, it's a group of individuals whose unity is therefore notable. – tea-and-cake May 05 '21 at 22:54
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    @tea-and-cake - I don't think you can compare the usage of "a team/company/government is treated as plural" & indeed quite common usage, against the simple singular set of multiple motors. If you reduce it to "a set are attached" you'll see it's just plain wrong. – DoneWithThis. May 06 '21 at 08:50
  • @gonefishin'again. "A set" can't take notional (plural) agreement, but "the set" definitely can, and if there's an explicit "of X" it certainly can – Tristan May 06 '21 at 08:59
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    @Tristan There are undoubtedly speakers who use "a set" with plural agreement (at least some of the time) - not just "the set". E.g. "A second set are models of the form..." at https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/methodologicalpublications/generalmethodology/onsworkingpaperseries/onsmethodologyworkingpaperseriesnumber12acomparisonofindexnumbermethodologyusedonukwebscrapedpricedata and "So, a special set are used" https://bf-sci.com/?p=455 "Another set are distraught" http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2002/03_march/20/bbctwospringsummerpresspack2002.pdf – rjpond May 06 '21 at 20:49
  • good point. For me I feel like it's the adjective/ordinal that makes it fine there but I'm not sure – Tristan May 07 '21 at 09:08
  • For me, without intervening words, "a set are" doesn't sound too bad, and certainly "We received many responses; a selection are attached", for instance, is 100% OK for me. – tea-and-cake May 10 '21 at 12:49