Subject-verb agreement

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Anonymous  #222580  Fri, 05 May 06 05:44 AM

Please advise me whether the subject-verb agreement in the following sentence is correct. (Please check the double quoted word)

'At this dilution, none of the sera from patients with either uveitis or genetic-based retinal degeneration "were" reactive and only 5.6% of the normal sera were reactive.'

Many thanks for your help in this regard

Elango

  
Clive  #222586  Fri, 05 May 06 06:13 AM

Hi,

'At this dilution, none of the sera from patients with either uveitis or genetic-based retinal degeneration "were" reactive and only 5.6% of the normal sera were reactive.'

'None' can be followed by either a singular or plural verb. 'Were' sounds fine.

I'm more inclined to ponder '5.6% of the . .  .sera were'.

'5 of the sera were' is certainly correct, but '5.6% were  . . ' sounds a little bit odd. I guess it's OK, because the substantive subject is 'sera'.

Best wishes, Clive

 

  
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