Thursday, September 17, 2015

phrases - Why is "many a man" singular while "many men" plural?



Recently I came to know that there is a construction "Many a man" which is equivalent to "many men". But I also noticed that the former construction is considered as singular, e.g.



Many a man has lost his life at sea.



But for the later construction we go something like this,



Many men have lost their lives at sea.



I am quite confused in the former construction. It behaves like we are talking of a single man but we are actually talking of many men. Please explain in detail why it is so.




No comments:

Post a Comment

Simple past, Present perfect Past perfect

Can you tell me which form of the following sentences is the correct one please? Imagine two friends discussing the gym... I was in a good s...