Words with no subject III

Late in the list sits por cento, two words in Portuguese and, in British English, two words as well: « per cent », not « percent ». That spelling is not a matter of taste in British usage. A British newspaper and a British contract both write it open; only the derived nouns close up, « percentage » and « percentile ». The Latin still shows through — per centum, by the hundred — and « cent » has no life of its own inside the phrase, which is why it never takes a plural: ten per cent, ninety per cent, never « per cents ». The second half of the rule is the one that catches people out. After « per cent of », the verb does not agree with the number; it agrees with whatever comes after « of ». « Ten per cent of the work is missing » takes a singular because work is singular, while « ten per cent of the flats are empty » takes a plural. Portuguese lets Falta só dez por cento do trabalho stand on its own arithmetic. English asks first what the tenth is a tenth of.