Usage of "like many a" vs "like that of"

Question

Sentence in question:

Sendak’s career began, like many an artist, during his childhood.

I think the sentence should be corrected with

"Sendak’s career began, like that of many artists, during his childhood."

Is my correction wrong?

I don't understand the usage of "like many a" How is the original sentence correct and where can I learn about the usage of "like many a"?

Can you explain the phrase "like many a"?

shouldn't the "artists" mentioned in the original sentence be "artists" because we are comparing Sendak's career to the careers of a wide spectrum of artists? — , Aug 29 '14 at 00:28
No. You can't say "many an artists". The "many" handles the plural form, so "artist" can remain singular. I think you would most likely find this form in literary works where the writer wanted it written this way for some reason. — user3169, Aug 29 '14 at 00:37

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 29 '14 at 06:17

As user3169 states, it's a special use of the word many. In a literary style, many a [someone in singular] means many [someone in plural]. This said, the sentence actually means...

Sendak’s career began, like many artists, during his childhood.

Another example to make it clear:

It remained a mystery for many a year = It remained a mystery for many years

Note that to change from many a... to many... we need to remove singular and add plural. That is the reason, the sentence in question uses a singular.

score -1 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 20 '21 at 16:07

-1

I think you can use the structure "many a" but in different situations. For example, the sentence: "Many students ARE foreigners." is the same as "Many a student IS foreigner."

edited Jan 20 '21 at 16:07

Glorfindel

14,824
15
69
76

answered Jan 20 '21 at 15:04

Việt Hà Tún

1

Usage of "like many a" vs "like that of"

2 Answers2

Linked