Several members of the committee have hearing disabilities.

hirashin

Sempai

Donor

8 Apr 2004

2,721

63

• 6 Oct 2018

• #1

Hello, native English speakers,
does the sentence sound natural?
Several members of the committee have hearing disabilities.
Or should I say
Several members of the committee have a hearing disability.

Thanks in advance.

Hirashin

 

mdchachi

Moderator

Moderator

Twenty-year veteran

6 Mar 2003

9,319

9,449

• 6 Oct 2018

• #2

Both are fine but I would probably use the first one.

 

hirashin

Sempai

Donor

8 Apr 2004

2,721

63

• 7 Oct 2018

• Thread starter
• #3

Thanks for the help.

 

Buntaro

運動不足

Twenty-year veteran

27 Dec 2003

2,855

2,105

• 7 Oct 2018

• #4

Deleted. Let me think about it.

 

hirashin

Sempai

Donor

8 Apr 2004

2,721

63

• 7 Oct 2018

• Thread starter
• #5

Buntaro said:

Deleted. Let me think about it.

Click to expand...

Sorry. I don't understand. What's deleted?

 

Buntaro

運動不足

Twenty-year veteran

27 Dec 2003

2,855

2,105

• 7 Oct 2018

• #6

hirashin said:

Sorry. I don't understand. What's deleted?

Click to expand...

Hirashin, I answered your question but then I decided my answer was wrong, so I deleted it.

 

hirashin

Sempai

Donor

8 Apr 2004

2,721

63

• 8 Oct 2018

• Thread starter
• #7

I see.
Do you agree with mdchachi?
Do you think you can use either a singular or plural form of "disability"?

 

Buntaro

運動不足

Twenty-year veteran

27 Dec 2003

2,855

2,105

• 8 Oct 2018

• #8

Both forms can be used. The plural form sounds better. But I am having a hard time explaining why. This is what I am thinking about.

 

hirashin

Sempai

Donor

8 Apr 2004

2,721

63

• 8 Oct 2018

• Thread starter
• #9

Thanks, Buntaro.

 

joadbres

八方凡人

19 Sep 2016

733

277

• 8 Oct 2018

• #10

If you want to see a variety of other similar examples, and advice on how to handle such cases, do a web search for "subject-complement agreement".

In this specific case, though, as @mdchachi has pointed out, both sound OK, so you can freely use either one.

English doesn't have a strict rule in such cases, but when in doubt, following subject-complement agreement is a fairly safe choice. In this case, that would result in choosing the first sentence, to match the plural.