A partial analogy is the treatment of "a number of" vs. "the number of,"
although the former doesn't have the additional literal interpretation
that Herb points out "one or two" has. I have never heard of a specific
term for that kind of thing either, though. Maybe "idiomatic
enumerators" (and no, I wouldn't' try to use that term on K-12
students!)?

Bill Spruiell
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University

 
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of STAHLKE, HERBERT F
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 11:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Unusual SV agreement problem

Dick,

I did cause some needless confusion with my choice of terms.  I'm
distinguishing collective interpretation from collective noun.
Collective nouns do, of course, take singular agreement.  I'm not sure
what the term would be for the interpretation of "one or two" as
"several."  But I did mean it to take plural agreement.

Herb

-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Veit, Richard
Sent: 2009-01-12 09:33
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Unusual SV agreement problem

Herb,

By a collective interpretation, do you mean you opt for singular verbs
(is/takes) in both clauses?

Dick
________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of STAHLKE, HERBERT F
[[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 6:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Unusual SV agreement problem

What the plural object and possessive pronoun suggest is the collective
interpretation of "one or two."  Agreement is triggered by the number of
the (nearest) subject term.  The question in this case is whether the
proximity rule applies or the subject is collective.  I lean towards the
latter.

Herb

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