[Grammar] Is it grammatical to say "are an integral parts?"

[Lumia625]

Hello,

I was reading an article in Wikipedia that I suddenly came across with the text below. I think the bolded part of it is ungrammatical. What do you think?

Her books, which include her autobiography (The Life of Teresa of Jesus) and her seminal work El Castillo Interior (trans.: The Interior Castle), are an integral part of Spanish Renaissance literature as well as Christian mysticism and Christian meditation practices.

I think it should have been written like the form below:

..............., are integral parts ................

Although it is correct to say "are an integral part" in Persian, I am not sure about English.

Thank you in advance,

 

[MikeNewYork]

I agree with you -- are integral parts.

 

[SoothingDave]

I'm fine with it.

 

[Lumia625]

I'm fine with it.

Well based on the English grammar I guess the bolded part of the original text is ungrammatical. In addition Dear @MikeNewYork, a native speaker of English agreed with me.

on the other hand, you say that it's fine and you have got no problem with it as a native speaker of English. I cannot ignore your reply easily because your first language is English. But may I ask you why did you say it is fine?

What about other native speakers of English? do you think the bolded part of the original text is grammatical?

 

[Lumia625]

Her books, taken together, make up one part of Spanish renaissance literature.

Thank you Piscean, I have got no problem in understanding the text. I just want to know is it the bold part of the original text grammatical for you?

Till now, one native speaker of English said it is not and the other one said it is.

I want to know the opinions of other native speakers about that part.

 

[MikeNewYork]

There are often differences of opinion about grammatical number.

 

[Rover_KE]

I want to know the opinions of other native speakers about that part.

Several native English speakers 'Liked' SoothingDave's reply, which means we agree with it.

You can check out our native language by clicking on Member Info.

You may observe that I clicked 'Like' for both Dave's post #3 and Mike's post #7. There is no discrepancy as I agree with the opinions expressed in those two posts.

 

[SoothingDave]

It all depends on how you conceptualize her "Books," as one thing or multiple things.

Like saying "bacon and eggs is my favorite breakfast." Though nominally plural, "bacon and eggs" is considered to be "one thing," and hence the singular verb.

 

[Tarheel]

I can see both sides of this one. That does, of course, make it hard for me to strongly disagree either way. On the one hand, "Her books ... are integral parts" certainly agrees in number. On the other hand, you might say "Her books (taken as a whole) ... are an integral part...."

 

[Tdol]

I just want to know is it the bold part of the original text grammatical for you?

It is grammatical for me. Singular and plural are complex issues and not always based on simply counting things, and often people will have different views. In this case, it seems fine to think of a number of books as a single part- the books together make up the author's oeuvre. If I were writing that sentence, I would happily use are an integral part, but others, like Mike, would not.

 

[Peedeebee]

It's not just about articles- it's also about verbs. We accept, in BrE with common usage, examples like the family are going out because of the plural number in the family. Or the team are arriving soon. But in this thread it is an which needs to agree with parts. (singular to singular ) So are an integral part is common usage. .... : an integral parts is not.
We accept the discrepancy of are. We don't accept the discrepancy of a parts.

 

[Peedeebee]

Oh, yes, quite right, Piscean. I stand corrected. I was looking at the 12 copies of the title of the thread, not the initial sentence...