Some angels dance on Earth

Will it be is or are? With some it can be either.

September 04, 2019 06:21 pm | Updated 06:21 pm IST

The picture of a little girl dancing on a busy street was so heart-moving.

The caption below it read, “Not all angels reside in heaven. Some dances on earth too.” The little girl symbolises the good people on earth. “Very profound,” I thought to myself.

But isn’t there something wrong? It’s the statement: Some dances on earth too .

This or that

Some is an indefinite pronoun. We use some before nouns to refer to indefinite quantities. Most indefinite pronouns are either singular or plural. However, some of them can be singular in one context and plural in another.

When some refers to an uncountable noun, it takes a singular verb.

For example: Some sugar has spilled. The singular verb has is used here because some is followed by the uncountable noun sugar.

On the other hand, we say, Some ants are eating the sugar . The plural verb are is used as some is followed by the countable noun ants, which is plural.

So, if the word that you want to put after “some” has a plural form, then use the plural form of the verb:

Some people are egoistic.

But remember, if the word doesn’t have a plural form, use the singular form:

Some information is incorrect.

Information does not have a plural form, so you have to use the singular form of the verb.

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