"Many flowers are in spring."?

[allone23]

Tell me if you think this sentence is grammatically correct:
"Many flowers are in spring."

The sentence sounds incorrect to me, but I can't quite explain why. Can you help me out? This is to determine whether to mark this sentence correct or not on some students' exams.

Much appreciated!

[axolotl]

The sentence is grammatically correct. 

However, the meaning intended is probably "There are many flowers in spring."

As it is, it has a slightly different meaning:  "Many flowers exist in spring."  That would be an odd thing to say.

[flasyb]

Maybe "in spring" is synonymous with "in bloom"

Many flowers are in spring = Many flowers are in bloom

[cragesmure]

The sentence is grammatically correct. 

However, the meaning intended is probably "There are many flowers in spring."

As it is, it has a slightly different meaning:  "Many flowers exist in spring."  That would be an odd thing to say.

What?  The sentence is not grammatically correct.  As you mentioned, "There are many flowers in spring" is correct.  "Many flowers exist in spring" is also correct.  I agree that it is an odd thing to say, but it is correct use of grammar.
"Many flowers are in spring" is obviously wrong.  An auxiliary verb requires a second verb to be used before a noun.
"She is beautiful" is correct, right?  Similarly, "She is beautiful in spring" is correct.  Is "She is beautiful is in spring" correct?  Nope.  Is "She is in spring" correct?  Nope.  It's pretty simple, really.

"

[siamagoo]

What?  The sentence is not grammatically correct.  As you mentioned, "There are many flowers in spring" is correct.  "Many flowers exist in spring" is also correct.  I agree that it is an odd thing to say, but it is correct use of grammar.
"Many flowers are in spring" is obviously wrong.  An auxiliary verb requires a second verb to be used before a noun.
"She is beautiful" is correct, right?  Similarly, "She is beautiful in spring" is correct.  Is "She is beautiful is in spring" correct?  Nope.  Is "She is in spring" correct?  Nope.  It's pretty simple, really.

So I can't say "Many flowers are in the school."?
How about "Passover and Easter are in spring."?

What's to say that "are" is acting as an auxilary verb?

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying it's not as "simple" as you claim.

[elzoog]

What?  The sentence is not grammatically correct.  As you mentioned, "There are many flowers in spring" is correct.  "Many flowers exist in spring" is also correct.  I agree that it is an odd thing to say, but it is correct use of grammar.
"Many flowers are in spring" is obviously wrong.  An auxiliary verb requires a second verb to be used before a noun.

The verb "to be" can also act as a main verb, i.e. "I am a teacher." or "She is a girl."

"She is beautiful" is correct, right?  Similarly, "She is beautiful in spring" is correct.  Is "She is beautiful is in spring" correct?  Nope.  Is "She is in spring" correct?  Nope.  It's pretty simple, really.

What about "She is in the kitchen."  or "She is in Florida."?   If "She is in Florida." is correct, then why is "She is in spring." incorrect?  (All I did was replace the word "spring" with "Florida" which are both nouns)

[flasyb]

What?  The sentence is not grammatically correct.  As you mentioned, "There are many flowers in spring" is correct.  "Many flowers exist in spring" is also correct.  I agree that it is an odd thing to say, but it is correct use of grammar.
"Many flowers are in spring" is obviously wrong.  An auxiliary verb requires a second verb to be used before a noun.
"She is beautiful" is correct, right?  Similarly, "She is beautiful in spring" is correct.  Is "She is beautiful is in spring" correct?  Nope.  Is "She is in spring" correct?  Nope.  It's pretty simple, really

So I can't say "Many flowers are in the school."?
How about "Passover and Easter are in spring."?

What's to say that "are" is acting as an auxilary verb?

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying it's not as "simple" as you claim.

The sentence is perfectly fine. It has the same meaning as, "There are many flowers in bloom." To double check that, I would ask my co-teacher where she got the sentence from if I were you. It might be that she doesn't understand it herself.

It kind of reminds me of a poem I read. I had to google it to find it again:

A hundred flowers are in Spring,
in Autumn is the moon,
In Summer is the cool wind.
the snow is in Winter;
If nothing is on the mind to afflict a man
That is the best season for the man.

-- Wu-men-kuan (The Gateless Gate)
Wu-men Hui-K'ai

It makes the sentence sound poetic and it's difficult to say if your co-teacher/the examiner would have meant that when they wrote the question. It sounds like Yoda wisdom stylistically which always puts it on shaky ground grammatically but I honestly think it's OK with both possible meanings - "in spring" meaning "in bloom" and with "many" as a quantifier suggesting the amount of flowers.

[CeilingofStars]

I think the issue is not so much that it's grammatically incorrect as that its nuance is really awkward.  When you say, "Many flowers are in spring," the implied follow-up is, "but the rest are in [some other season],"  which doesn't make much sense.

I think, in marking tests, you have to decide what's more important to you.  Clearly, the student understands the relationship between 'many flowers' and 'spring', and they've constructed a sentence that perfectly aligns with the rules they've learned about English ('The chair is in the classroom'; 'The baseball game is in the evening.').  Personally I would mark it correct but leave a note like, "This is okay, but a little strange.  Try saying, 'There are many flowers in spring.' "

[allone23]

Wow! Thanks everyone for your feedback! Sorry, my response is slow. The last time I checked, there were no responses, and I didn't get any email notifications.

Sadly, my co-teacher and I decided to mark it wrong, since the actual phrase taught to the students was "There are many flowers in spring." We do make exceptions when they don't use the exact phrases taught in class as long as they're grammatically correct. We went back and forth on this one a long time.

[jkeanu]

actually not many...
but in korea we think that flowers bloom in spring and summer is totally green...

we think that spring is the beginning season what the flowers bloom.. maybe this is the reason why we use this expreesion...