OG12 117-----单复数指代问题，求助！=》已解决

judyenglish

117. George Sand (Aurore Lucile Dupin) was one of the first European writers to consider the rural poor to be legitimate subjects for literature and portray these with sympathy and respect in her novels.

(A) to be legitimate subjects for literature and portray these

(B) should be legitimate subjects for literature and portray these

(C) as being legitimate subjects for literature and portraying them

(D) as if they were legitimate subjects for literature and portray them

(E) legitimate subjects for literature and to portray them

请问这里的them究竟指代什么？看OG12的解释是指代the rural poor，它算复数吗？我觉得应该单数。请NN帮忙，谢谢！

winzeroJ

我个人对楼主总结的第二条有点异议啊。我觉得只是因为rural poor是一群人才用them的，而不是因为legitimate subjects是复数所以rural poor才是复数。比如I consider the three men a team. three men是复数，但team是单数，所以我觉得从consider　Ｘ　Ｙ的Ｙ来判断Ｘ的单复数不是很合理。。。
我的一点拙见，有不当之处还请指出

judyenglish

1.集合名词有时看成单数，有时又需看成复数，容易混淆，总是弄错。
2.感谢evangelia ，终于明白了。conside X Y=>consider the rural poor legitimate subjects=>由于Y 是复数，则X也是复数。
3.也谢谢其他回答者。

chengmcgill

the + adj. 表示的是一类人
比如，the elderly， 就是指老年人（一群）

evangelia

consider the rural poor legitimate subjects, 由subject可知这里的rural poor是复数，所以用them指代。

我心向明月

the rural poor是指一个群体，指代的时候是需要用them的。