French bulldogs are one of Britain's fastest growing breeds

French bulldogs are one of Britain’s fastest growing breeds.

French bulldogs(plural) = one breed(singular)
French dogs ARE treated as ONE unit. Am I right?
Does the title sentence mean that French dogs as a breed ‘are’ one breed of the Britain’s fastest growing breeds?

“Koch brothers are one of the biggest polluters in the country.”

Why is this possible? Are the brothers treated ‘one’ unit?

German shepherds are my favourite breed of dogs. The German shepherd breed is my favourite breed of all breeds, forget French bulldogs: they come a poor second! (I am only joking in the service of grammar!)

To me the “French bulldogs are …” sounds correct. You are correct, too, in assuming that French bulldogs are one of the fastest growing breeds in Britain. They are one breed among - or of - the many breeds in Britain.

(Should you not be getting ready for the wooden hill rather than dreaming up complicated questions?)

The Koch brothers are two people, Charles and David. They have to be treated as plural.

If their company name were “Koch B” or some such name, you could use the singular: “Koch B.” pollutes …"

I am going to count sheep. Thank you, SanneT.

Caveat emptor: http://www.chacha.com/question/why-do-french-bulldogs-fart-so-much

Yutaka,
Very good observation!
‘French bulldogs’ is commonly used to refer to the French bulldog as a breed. ‘The Koch brothers’ is commonly used to refer to their corporation ‘Koch Industries.’ It is cultural. These grammatical errors in number are not made because the news agencies utilize non-native English speakers. On the contrary. It is a colloquialism that is most often overlooked by the general population, whether spoken on television or written in newspapers, precisely because it is, for the most part, cultural. It is in fact very common for native speakers and writers to express things in this way. For example:

Golden Retrievers are one of the most popular breeds in the UK.
The Koch brothers are one of the biggest polluters in the US.
Eating disorders are one of the most common psychological problems facing young women in Japan.
(Referring to a company or industry): We are one of the largest shrimp farms in the world.
Spindle whorls are one of the most prolific items found in archeological digs.
Potato chips are one of the most popular snack foods in the world.
Trailing stops are one of the most important investment tools ever.
Peanut allergies are one of the most common food allergies.
Granddaddy longlegs are one of the most poisonous spiders, but their fangs are too short to bite humans. (This is a myth)

Examples of this sort are abundant.

edit: ‘Granddaddy longlegs’ is a colloquial name given to an order of arachnids known as opiliones, and is the same in its singular or plural form: “Look, it’s a granddaddy longlegs!” or “Those are granddaddy longlegs.” The most widespread species is Phalangium opilio.
http://prashantpsharma.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/6/1/13619635/2013099.jpg?665

1 Like

I read the article Yutaka linked to about the Koch brothers. Under the link marked ‘Wall Street Journal’, the article, instead of linking to ‘Koch’s spirited defense’, it links to this article attacking them in The New Yorker

The article is pretty long and I have not read most of it, but what I have read seems pretty accurate. The Koch brothers might not be the biggest polluters of the environment in America, but they seem to currently be the biggest polluters of the debate on environmental issues. Since ExxonMobile has partially backed off in their activities, the Koch brothers have been massive investers in the intentional campaign to spread disinformation and manufacture confusion and doubt about environmental issues that are inconvientient to their financial interests.

1 Like

@Yutaka “Does the title sentence mean that French dogs as a breed ‘are’ one breed of the Britain’s fastest growing breeds?”

The sentence means something like “French bulldogs are quickly becoming more and more popular.”

The sentence could also mean, “French bulldogs grow to their full size faster than most other kinds of dogs.”

You’re absolutely right, Colin. The Koch brother are the biggest polluters of politics. Period. Not just when it comes to environmental issues, but social issues as well. They support every sort of right wing candidate that is out there, not only on the Federal level, but also on the State and local level, where the real damage is being done.

Yes, thanks to donhamiltontx for clarifying the question even further.

“French bulldogs are one of Britain’s fastest growing breeds” means
“The French bulldog is quickly becoming one of the most popular breeds of dog in the United Kingdom.”

  • Bruce

The title of this thread includes ‘one of Britain’s fastest growing breeds’. I began feeling strange when I noticed that there was no article after ‘of’. I wonder if the phrase should read ‘one of the Britain’s fastest growing breeds’.

Yutaka,
No. The phrase doesn’t always have to be one of THE favorite.
It can also be one of HIS, HER, or ITS favorite.
It is one of the most popular breeds in Britain.
So, it is one of whose most popular breeds? One of Britain’s.
(Britain is a country. A country is treated like a ‘who’ :
one of ITS most popular breeds.)

The French bulldog is one of its (Britain’s) most popular breeds.
So it should read: one of Britain’s fastest growing breeds, not “one of the Britain’s.”
That would be like calling Japan “the Japan.”
You wouldn’t say: The Shiba Inu is one of the Japan’s most popular breeds.
You would say: The Shiba Inu is one of Japan’s most popular breeds.

‘The’ would only apply to the handful of country names which actually start with ‘the’: the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, etc.
So, of course it would be okay to say:
The French bulldog is one of the United Kingdom’s fastest growing breeds.

1 Like

The fastest growing breeds in Britain
Britain’s fastest growing breeds

If ‘fastest something’ is modified by the preceding proper noun ‘Britain’, ‘the’ is unnecessary, even if ‘fastest’ is superlative.
Besides, there should be no ‘the’ before Britain.

Precisely.

If ‘fastest something’ is modified by the preceding proper noun (Britain) in its possessive form (Britain’s), ‘the’ is unnecessary. Besides, there should be no ‘the’ before Britain.

1 Like