One sentence grammar explanation?

Question

No witnesses to the accident have come forward yet, despite the police's appeal.

My problems are:
1. since there's no witness, why the sentence use no witnesses
2. there are no witnesses, why use 'have' not 'has' to be the verb?

Thank you very much.

Answer 1

Yes that's right - it would be equally correct to say 'no witness has come forward', however that might be seen to imply that only one witness was expected, which would probably be misleading, so if I were writing it I would write it the way you said.

Answer 2

The sentence does not say that there are no witnesses, simply that no witness has come forward, which is quite different.

In fact "no witnesses have" is wrong and "no witnesses has" is correct although it sounds awkward. Similarly, the expression "none of them is" is correct and "none of them are" is wrong. The grammatical explanation is that these are 'zero' terms ie less than 'one' and as such are singular, hence a singular verb. Although the above refers to the Standard English expression, for both of these terms the use of a plural is becoming more and more acceptable in conversational practice, because of it's awkwardness of sound. However, the standard English should always be used in writing; so to avoid written errors, you should try to master the correct way of saying things like this.

Answer 3

In your sentence, the writer could have interchanged “no witness” for “no witnesses” without affecting the meaning.

As for the use of the plural “have” versus the singular “has”, regardless of the physical count of witnesses (since there are no witnesses, the count is zero), your plural subject (“witnesses”) must take a plural verb (“have”).

The “no” in “no witnesses” serves as an adjective changing the meaning of “witnesses,” but it does not change the plurality of the noun; “no witnesses” will still take the plural verb “have.”

The above answer’s reference to the debate over “none” isn’t completely applicable as “none” is derived from “no one” or “not one," and since “one” is singular and takes a singular verb, some people (incorrectly, in my opinion) maintain that “none” must also be singular; “None of my friends agrees with this ‘rule’.”

Answer 4

The sentence could be:
"No witnesses to the accident have come forward..."
(The verb "have" is used because "witnesses" is plural)
or
"No witness to the accident has come forward..."
(The verb "has" would be used because "witness" is singular)

Answer 5

since it was an accident there could be a number of witnesses, hence they're saying tht no witnesses came forward.
'have ' is used for plural and ' has ' for singular

Answer 6

because it doesn't. reason KARA effect, is how kara works. (Kara = so, in case you do not replace syntax). The sentence potential: i do not love you, because i won't be able to be which incorporates you. the eastern syntax is diverse, be confident you provide this perfect interest. Anata = you to = with (particle) issho ni = mutually (ni is the particle issho takes) X to issho ni = which incorporates X iru = that is not purely to exist, yet to be to boot. issho ni iru = to be mutually koto = for that reason, it makes a noun out of a verb. verb koto ha dekinai = a kind for adverse ability (won't be able to do verb) dekinai = adverse kind of dekiru it really is the flair kind of "suru", it potential "can". i imagine you purchased something else down.

Answer 7

I agree with d-train. I teach high school English.

Answer 8

I absolutely agree with d-train