Here's one for you grammarians

[desperance]

In the phrase "all manner of", is the word 'manner' singular as it appears, or is it some kind of hidden plural? Does one say "There was all manner of ways", or "There were all manner of ways"?

Comments

[dedbutdrmng.livejournal.com]

My OED would have 'was'. The example if gives is 'is used for all manner of ailments'. So that would equate to 'was'.

I think.

Actually. Now I've typed it that doesn't work. I prefer were.

I'm not good at this. This was a pointless reply.

Have some cat Pron instead.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the pr0n. I don't think your example helps, either way: the 'is' clearly refers to the unspecified subject of the sentence, where the ailments are the object. In my difficulty, it's all subject. Or subjective, perhaps.

*goes back to looking at cat pr0n*

[dedbutdrmng.livejournal.com]

Lookatthecatyouonlyseethecat

Yes. That struck me after typing it. So I fell back on cat pr0n in the hope it would distract everyone from my confusion.

Lookatthecatyouonlyseethecatlookatthecat

However, it does mean I have learnt that 'Manse' refers specifically to the house of a Minister. Which I'm sure will come in useful somewhere.

Lookatthecatyouonlyseethecat1-2-3andyourawake.