Quick grammar question (grammatical, require, writing, better)

[Cream1]

Which sentence is grammatically correct?

1. The limited amount of local supplies requires the City to import 30% of their supplies?

or.

2. The limited amount of local supplies requires the City to import 30% of its supplies?

[Pinkmani]

I think either one is correct; however, I would say "their".

[randomparent]

I would be inclined to use its rather than their, because city is singular, but depending on the overall emphasis of the paragraph in which it's found (Is it more important that the city imports supplies or that local resources are limited?), I would also consider rewriting the sentence to something like,

"The city imports 30% of its supplies in response to limited local resources."

Also, please note that city should be written in lowercase.

[kayanne]

I've noticed a trend in recent years to treat a singular noun representing a group as a plural noun, especially the word "couple." I don't care for that.

To me, words like club, city, family, association, group, team, etc, should be used with singular verbs or pronouns, such as:

He goes on vacation every year. They go on vacation every year.
The group goes on vacation every year. (sounds better to me than "The group go....")


He has chosen his strategy. They have chosen their strategy.
The team has chosen its strategy. (sounds better to me than "The team has chosen their strategy.")

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by Howiester

Which sentence is grammatically correct?

1. The limited amount of local supplies requires the City to import 30% of their supplies?

or.

2. The limited amount of local supplies requires the City to import 30% of its supplies?

I would be disinclined to use supplies in both the subject and the predicate of the same sentence.

The limited amount of road salt available locally requires the city to import 30% of its supply.

I would use its rather than their because the city is not a person. Use their to refer to people and its to refer to things.

[Meemur]

The limited amount of local supplies requires the City to import 30% of its supplies?

The limited number of local supplies requires the city to import 30% of its supplies.

"local suppliers" is a count noun, so use "number." City is singular. Use its.

I would probably word it this way, depending on the rest of the paragraph:

The city imports 30% of its supplies due to a limited number of local suppliers.

[kayanne]

Originally Posted by suzy_q2010

Use their to refer to people and its to refer to things.

"Their" can be used with things, because "they" is the plural of "it" as well as he/she.

Where is the book? It is on the table, and its cover is looking worn.

Where are the books? They are on the table, and their covers are looking worn.

[kayanne]

Originally Posted by Meemur

The limited amount of local supplies requires the City to import 30% of its supplies?

The limited number of local supplies requires the city to import 30% of its supplies.

"local suppliers" is a count noun, so use "number." City is singular. Use its.

I would probably word it this way, depending on the rest of the paragraph:

The city imports 30% of its supplies due to a limited number of local suppliers.

You've used both "local supplies" and "local suppliers" in your posts. I would agree that "suppliers" is a count noun, but "supplies" could go either way, I think.

[Sudcaro]

Originally Posted by kayanne

I've noticed a trend in recent years to treat a singular noun representing a group as a plural noun, especially the word "couple." I don't care for that.

To me, words like club, city, family, association, group, team, etc, should be used with singular verbs or pronouns

Actually this has been around for decades in British English.

[angelenogirl]

Also, "30 percent."