We have learned much from you and trust you will find satisfaction in our response to your feedback in this new edition. More particularly, we would like to thank Professor Loretta Grey of Central Washington University, who piloted an early version of this second edition with her own students and gave us invaluable feedback. | Chapter 17 Partitives Collectives and Quantifiers 327 Container-based 3 a bottle of catsup a jar of jam two cartons of books two cans of oil Portion-based a slice of bread a dollop of whipped cream two helpings of potatoes two servings of ice cream Individual members of a category of course more than one can be referred to when a number is used a word of advice an item of information two pieces of luggage two articles of clothing Parts or fractions a segment of society a part of life two portions of the budget two sections of the newspaper Shape of a ball of yam a column of smoke two streams of water two sticks of butter Pair of Some plural count nouns without a singular form are viewed strictly as pairs things having two equal parts and the partitive count noun pair is used with these nouns for example trousers trouser a pair of scissors a scissor tongs tong Idiomatic partitives Vegetables lettuce cabbage an ear of com a stalk of celery Animals a herd of cattle a flock of birds a school of fish a pride of lions Other food items a bunch of grapes a loaf of bread a clove of garlic a sprig of parsley People a gang of thieves a troupe of actors a team of ball players a crew of helpers The whole of the rest of the remainder of These three partitives with a definite determiner are used to express an entire thing the whole of or some specific part thereof. the whole of 1 the rest of that piece of meat. Quirk et al. 1985 s the remainder of J 328 The Grammar Book The whole of Quebec is francophone. the rest of 1 . . . J- the country English is spoken. the remainder of J A majority of the majority of a minority of These partitives are used to show proportion of some explicit set. A majority of and the majority of are used with quantities greater than half. A minority of is used to signal less or fewer than half. A majority of the people feel that educational reform is a priority. A few partitives can even be used to express a quality or subtype rather than quantity of a .
