1

Read as many books as suit(s) your schedule.

Singular or plural agreement?

1
  • 2
    Either, depending on your intent. If you use suits it implies an elision of it and perhaps other syntactical elements ("as [it] suits your schedule [to obtain]").
    – Robusto
    Commented Dec 9, 2013 at 14:44

3 Answers 3

3

The expression 'as many [X's] as' is a compound quantifier virtually synonymous here with 'the number of [X's] that'. I don't think many people would object to 'Do it as many times as is necessary' and this seems to be preferred over 'Do it as many times as are necessary' [Google]. Compound modifiers behave rather strangely and unpredictably. Here, I'd choose 'suits' because it's the activity, not the books, that I'm going to tailor to my convenience.

0

Plural ("suits"). "Many books suit your schedule." I'm trying to find a singular subject to justify a singular conjugation ("suits"), but I think "the activity" of reading, which @edwin-ashworth references, is a bit of a stretch.

0

You need to look at it this way.

  1. Read as suits your schedule.
  2. Read, as much, as suits your schedule.
  3. Read, all the books in the library, as suits your schedule.
  4. Read, as many books, as suits your schedule.
  5. Read, quickly, as suits your schedule.

Consider the phrase between the commas as having an adverbial effect on the verb read.

~QED~.

You must log in to answer this question.