Common English Blunders

“There were a number of updates.”

Common English Blunders, Number, Verbs

I heard this during a conference call.

Problem:
The number of the verb does not match the number of “a number of updates”.

Explanation:
The phrase “a number of updates” is singular (because “a number” is singular).

In contrast, the “were” form of the verb “be” is third-person plural.

The solution is to use the third-person singular form of the verb “be”.

I believe that the problematic sentence is an example of speakers and writers being distracted by the noun “updates”, which is plural and ends the sentence (and therefore tends to get more attention than does “a number”).

Solution:
“There was a number of updates.”

“None of them work.”

Common English Blunders, Number, Pronouns, Verbs

I saw a hilarious TV clip about why this is wrong.

Problem:
The number of the verb does not match the number of the subject.

Explanation:
The pronoun “none” means not one.

The pronoun “one” is singular and takes the third-person, singular form of “work”, which is “works”.

Seeing this, we get “Not one of them works.”

Converting “Not one” back to “None” gives us the solution.

I believe that the problematic sentence is an example of speakers and writers being distracted by the nearness of the verb to the pronoun “them”, which is plural.

Solution:
“None of them works.”

“I would like for them to …”

Common English Blunders, Hypercorrection, Prepositions

My wife heard this on NPR this morning.

Problem:
The preposition “for” is inappropriate here.

Explanation:
Inserting prepositions where they don’t belong is becoming, unfortunately, a common English blunder.

The preposition “for” does not belong in the opening of the sentence that my wife heard.

“I would like” is a weaker way of saying “I want”.

Replacing “would like” with the stronger “want” gives us “I want for them to …”, where “for” certainly does not belong.

This confirms that “for” does not belong in “I would like for them to …”.

My suspicion is that the speaker believed that including “for” made him or her seem more educated — perhaps a form of hypercorrection.

Solution:
“I would like them to …”