For the third time in a week a key set of lights on my school run have
gone down so will have to avoid the junction (in Homerton). Why do road
signals often keep failing once they've been 'fixed'?

E.

On Fri, 8 Feb 2013 14:48:49 +0000
eastender wrote:
For the third time in a week a key set of lights on my school run have
gone down so will have to avoid the junction (in Homerton). Why do road
signals often keep failing once they've been 'fixed'?

Why do you have to do the school run and cause traffic jams for people
who have to drive to work? Let the kid walk or get the bus.

B2003

On 2013-02-08 15:35:15 +0000, d said:

Why do you have to do the school run and cause traffic jams for people
who have to drive to work? Let the kid walk or get the bus.

It's about five miles to the school, which itself is not very near to a
bus or train station. We do take them on the train sometimes.

But thanks for addressing the traffic light problem.

E.

On 2013\02\08 14:48, eastender wrote:
For the third time in a week a key set of lights on my school run have
gone down so will have to avoid the junction (in Homerton). Why do road
signals often keep failing once they've been 'fixed'?

I don't know, but traffic lights break with alarming frequency. There is
little that TfL do right, but Hendy just got his knighthood so why
should they give a crap?

In my experience, traffic often flows more smoothly when traffic lights fail,
particularly in the suburbs.

I have a strong suspicion about why they fail so often, but the laws of libel
prevent me from explaining.

"....HAS gone down."
Can't be a good school!

Offramp wrote on 08 February 2013 21:33:31 ...
"....HAS gone down."
Can't be a good school!

"Set of lights" implies plurality, so "have" is perfectly good English.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

On Feb 9, 12:08*am, "Richard J." wrote:
Offramp wrote on 08 February 2013 21:33:31 ...

"....HAS gone down."
Can't be a good school!

"Set of lights" implies plurality, so "have" is perfectly good English.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

Ah, but it says *A* set..., which is then singular.

PhilD

--

PhilD wrote on 09 February 2013 10:46:06 ...
On Feb 9, 12:08 am, "Richard J." wrote:
Offramp wrote on 08 February 2013 21:33:31 ...

"....HAS gone down."
Can't be a good school!

"Set of lights" implies plurality, so "have" is perfectly good English.

Ah, but it says *A* set..., which is then singular.

Of course it says "A" because "set" is a singular noun. But "a set of
lights" is the compound subject of the sentence, and clearly refers to
several lights forming a set, all of which were out. In British English,
a collective noun like "set" can be followed by either a singular or
plural verb.

See the Fowler's Modern English Usage article on 'agreement'.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

So you think, "A set of lights have failed," is good English?
Thank God the Poles are catching up!
LOROL!