When to use a definite article and preposition together with ‘myriad’

Of the many things we do- then end up breaking the myriad rules of grammar- is ignore the order of sentence construction as prescribed in the English language. This order demands that the subject precedes the verb and object, abbreviated as SVO (Subject +Verb+ Object). 

In some instances, the order is inverted to begin with the verb, followed by the subject. Before discussing this, however, let us briefly take a look at the word ‘myriad’ as used above. Often, we come across sentences like ‘He encountered a myriad of problems in his endeavour’. There are those who take this to be grammatically wrong, but others differ. 

In most cases, ‘myriad’ (adjective) is used to denote the figure 10,000 or simply ‘many’. Myriad (noun) means either a ‘heap’ ‘mass’ or ‘host’. That being the case, care must be taken in the use of the indefinite article ‘a’ and the preposition ‘of’ in sentences involving the word ‘myriad’. If, for instance, we substitute myriad (adjective) with either ‘many’ or 10,000’ in the aforementioned sentence, it would read; “He encountered a many of problems in his endeavour’ or “He encountered a 10,000 of problems in his endeavour”. By any measure, that is unacceptable.

Grammatically correct

The point being made here is that where ‘myriad’ (adjective) is to be employed in a sentence, it should not be preceded by ‘a’ or be qualified by ‘of’, thus, one should either write ;  ‘He encountered myriad problems in his endeavour’, ‘He encountered many problems in his endeavour’ or ‘He encountered 10,000 problems in his endeavour’.

However, the sentence; ‘A myriad of claims”, in which myriad is employed as a noun makes sense. By substituting myriad with either ‘mass ‘or ‘host’, to omit ‘a’ and ‘of’ before and after the words would be grammatically wrong.

When, finally, the government decided to demolish the Airgate Mall in Embakasi, it was big news. In the quest to relay the breaking news to the public, a news anchor asked the reporter on site; “Tell us how is it there”.  The manner of speaking did not, in any way, suggest it was a question, rather, a request.

As such, the absence of a pause in the verbal speech after the first two words (tell us) to signal a comma led the speaker to break the SVO rule. The sentence would have been grammatically correct if the words ‘is’ and ‘it’ switched positions to read “tell us how it is there”. The insertion of a comma and a question mark in the original sentence not only significantly changes it, there’s more clarity: “Tell us, how is it there?” 

Sub categories

The SVO rule, however, is not applicable when it comes to interrogative sentences that start with the words ‘is’, ‘what’ ‘where’ or ‘why’. As such we invert SVO to verb + subject: “Will Govind go to court to demand compensation for the demolition?” 

Having written about sentences, basically the largest units of a language and which, in the English language must commence with a capital letter, let us remind ourselves of some of the most basic rules of grammar to aid, particularly, our writing. Sentences are comprised of eight parts broken down as nouns, pronouns, prepositions, interjections, adverbs, adjectives verbs and conjunctions. 

Nouns are naming words. They refer to places, things, people or ideas. Under the noun category, there are several sub categories, namely Proper Nouns (like Parliament), Common nouns (Country), Abstract nouns (feelings like love or hate), Concrete nouns (Chair), Countable nouns (Car, cars), Non-countable nouns (water, air), Collective nouns (team, family) and Compound nouns (love-hate relationships). 

Pronouns take the place of nouns or noun phrases for the purpose of avoiding repetition. Verbs describe an action or a condition, for example, “A bulldozer is demolishing Taj Mall”. Verbs too, are categorized as finite verbs, non-finite verbs, action verbs, linking verbs, auxiliary verbs and modal verbs.

Adjectives describe or modify nouns. For example: “Jackson loves his ailing grandfather very much”. Prepositions contextualize nouns in relation to other nouns as in “Alphaville is going to America”. Conjunctions connect nouns and noun phrases, clauses or sentences; for example, “Mary’s love for chocolate is not a secret”. Interjections are merely pauses in speech that express an emotion. Common interjections include ‘oh’, ‘alas’ and so much more. 

Mr Chagema is a correspondent at The [email protected]