Police in Edina, Minnesota, said that the string of burglaries over the past half a year doesn't involve victims who are chosen at random; instead, the criminals...

Minnesota burglars are using Wi-Fi jammers to disable home security systems::undefined

  • bluespin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    9 months ago

    ‘All precautions’ is plural, so you have to use ‘are’. Using ‘is’ is in no way correct there; the ‘deterrents’ bit has nothing to do with it

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
      36·
      9 months ago

      By your rational the first person should have said:

      If they are running over Wi-Fi they aren’t really security, they are just toys. At the very best they are visual deterrents for opportunistic people

      But they didn’t, they said:

      If it is running over Wi-Fi it isn’t really security, it is a toy. At the very best a visual deterrent for opportunistic people

      Even though they were talking about security systems which have more than one component even if only one camera.

      The “visual deterrent” made the whole sentence singular. Just like when I referenced a group of locks.

      Like

      His baseball card collection is his most important possession.

      That collection is a lot of individual things, but the group is singular.

      Theres multiple locks, but we’re talking about them as a group being a singular visual deterrent.

      Like I said, English is a stupid language. Like how we list adjectives in a certain order, we know when it’s right or wrong, but ask someone to explain why and they usually can’t.

      • bluespin@lemmy.worldEnglish
        62·
        9 months ago

        Don’t have the time to get into a grammar debate. Just letting you know why you’re being downvoted since no one else told you why your statement is incorrect

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
          37·
          9 months ago

          Oh ok…

          Thanks for replying to say you’re not replying I guess

          Doesn’t seem like a good use of time tho.