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I am reading the text and see "Many are the issues". Why not "Many issues"?

Full example:

It is an unquestionable fact that the limited financial resources allocated to a local council must be used in the most efficient and worthy of ways. Many are the issues that deserve to be addressed, however the arts and the environment are surely at the forefront of issues that any government must consider investing in.

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  • No difference. Just a difference in style. Sometimes, one might choose the former if one wants to elongate the sentence in order to affect the rhythm of the writing.
    – Charon
    Jul 5, 2015 at 11:46
  • Please give a complete sentence for context.
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Jul 5, 2015 at 11:47
  • "Many are the . . ." is a loftier way of saying "many . . ." More poetic, more refined, and running the risk of obvious affectation. Unless you're willing to risk coming off comically stilted in your prose, use the simpler version.
    – Robusto
    Jul 5, 2015 at 12:37
  • Many are the issues = 'there are many issues'. If you use it to mean 'many issues', your sentence will be malformed.
    – Tim Lymington
    Jul 5, 2015 at 14:59
  • The equivalence is between "Many issues" and "Many are the issues that." Don't forget to remove the that along with are the if you decide to use the shorter wording.
    – Sven Yargs
    Jul 7, 2015 at 6:40

2 Answers 2

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I don't see much difference in sense. There are many examples those can be used to explain it. I would like to give you two examples here. I mean to say when and how I would use them.

Many are the issues:

There are many students in my batch and many are the issues for our teacher as they try to bring many issues while he teaches.

Many issues:

I have many issues in my life. But we have to deal with them.

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"Many are the issues that" is indeed a more florid, highfalutin' way of saying "Many issues". You'll note in your example a number of other examples: "in the most efficient and worthy of ways" could be reduced to "efficiently", and the introductory phrase, "It is an unquestionable fact that the", could be completely omitted without harm to the meaning.

A less-verbose (although perhaps less exciting) version of your quote could be:

Local councils must allocate their limited funds wisely, but top priorities surely include the arts and the environment.

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