When using the word "most" before the word "people", should the verb which comes after them should be referred as a singular or plural?
For example:
- What would the most people know about insulin?
- What would the most people knows about insulin?
Which one of the two above is the correct one?
Best Answer
To my (American) ear, "What would most people know about insulin?" is correct, and "What would most people knows about insulin?" is incorrect.
"What would the most people know about insulin?" sounds unnatural. "The most people" is usually used as a superlative, not as a way of referring to a specific group of "most people". "Most people" is deliberately vague as to which people are in the group, so a non-superlative use of "the most people" is usually self-contradictory.
"What is the most people you have ever talked to at the same time?" does sound natural. Notice that this question asks for a superlative -- the result of comparing the sizes of all of the groups of people "you have ever talked to" -- so this use of "the most people" refers to a single group of people. "What is the largest audience you have ever spoken to?" and "What is the largest group of people you have ever talked to?" sound even more natural.
"The most people I have ever talked to was 2,500 people, during a meeting at Town Hall." In this usage, "the most people" is singular.