中国英语界流行弊病4: 以为分数或百分数+population后的谓语用单数错误

这个片面性错误在全中国流行，比如下面这个连接（北京四中网校）就是这么说的：

http://web.etiantian.com/staticpages/study/question/question_5955466.htm

本文观点：分数或百分数+population做主语，其后的谓语用单数复数都正确，大学中学老师们不应该在考查population 时设置自己认为正确而实际无效的障碍来残害学生们学习和使用英语的兴趣。

先看美国加里福尼亚州的小学6年级数学教材(GLENCOE MCGRAW-HILL MATHEMATICS 6)里的句子：

It is estimated that 13.9% of the population of Texas was born outside the United States.

（据估计得克萨斯州13.9%的人口出生在美国之外。）

So the (restaurant) owner concludes that about 12% of the city’s population are vegetarians.

 (所以餐馆老板得出结论说这个城市大约12%的人口是素食者。）

从美国数学教材里可以看出，分数或百分数+population做主语，其后的谓语用单数复数都正确。需要注意的是，当表语是复数名词时，谓语受到表语复数的影响，通常用复数。

下面引用权威词典里的用法说明和例句证明本文的观点：

《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》第6/7/8版 population 条：

One third of the world's population consumes/consume two thirds of the world's resources.

A tiny fraction of the population never vote/votes.

What per cent of the population is/are overweight?

What percentage of the population is/are overweight?

《麦克米伦高阶英语词典》: 

用单数谓语的句子：

A third of the population is employed in the coal mining industry. （employed ）

Half the world's population is in poverty. （poverty)

A section of the population lives in poverty. (section)

In some parts of the country, 15% of the population is now considered to be obese.(fat条)

用复数谓语的句子：

A high proportion of the population are immigrants. (proportion)

Most of the population are employed in agriculture.

Greenbaum: THE OXFORD ENGLISH GRAMMAR:
...perhaps only 2 per cent of the population use Irish regularly.
...and 90 per cent of the population is undernourished.

INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH USAGE
About a quarter of the population suffers from chronic indigestion.
(approximately 25% of New York’s population is of Jewish origin),

Webster's Usage 《韦氏惯用法词典》:
. . . half of whose population votes.

. . . 25 percent of the population was overweight.

LONGMAN AMERICAN ENGLISH DICTIONARY 《朗文美语词典》:
 Most of the population of Canada lives fairly near the US border.

Words that Work:
While a majority of Americans generally favor "tax reform," one-third of the population fears that they would end up paying more in taxes if the tax code were in fact reformed.

RANDOM HOUSE'S USAGE 《兰登英语惯用法词典》:
More than half the population was decimated by the plague.

LONGMAN ESSENTIAL ACTIVATOR 《朗文基本活用词典》 p449:
In Ghana 46% of the population is under 16 years of age.
90% of the adult population is literate.

《牛津高阶英语词典》2011版
Usage note: expressing percentages
If the noun is singular but represents a group of people, the verb is singular in North American English but in British English it may be singular or plural: Eighty per cent of the work force is/are against the strike.


《牛津高阶美语词典》2011版 percent：
Grammar: expressing percentages
If the noun is singular but represents a group of people, the verb is singular: Eighty percent of the work force is against the strike.

《牛津高阶美语词典》2011版 population
One third of the world's population consumes two thirds of the world's resources.

《牛津高阶英语词典》2011版
One third of the world's population consumes/consume two thirds of the world's resources.

《朗文当代英语辞典》第5版：population条
Most of the world's population doesn't get enough to eat.

中国英语界以为分数或百分数+population后的谓语用单数错误，可是，《柯林斯高级英语用法词典》里却主张这个结构里要用单数的谓语动词。其英文原文如下：

When percentage is used in front of a singular form, you use a singular form of a verb after it.
A high percentage of the pet population has been adopted off the streets.