Stenka25  +  681787 Mon, 02 Mar 09 05:24 AM StartFragment>StartFragment> There is a sentence which seems to have a problem in agreement. During the Pleistocene glacial periods there were portion of the Earth where plant and animal life flourished, making it possible for people to subsist. "there was" seems better than "there were" because "portion of the Earth" sounds singular. So I looked up Longman Dicitonary of Contemporary English. In that dictionary : 3 [usually singular] a share of something, such as responsibility, blame, or a duty, that is divided between a small number of people • The other driver must bear a portion of the blame for the accident. It says "portion of" is [usually singular]. That is, we cannot say it should be 100% "there was." Sometimes "there were" can be possible. Do you agree with my reasoning? Stenka25 Joined on Thu, Jul 13 2006 Seoul, South Korea Full Member 242 Writing, Sentences, Plants, Countries, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Languages

	Thomas Tompion  +  681806 Mon, 02 Mar 09 07:18 AM I suspect that the case where portion is used with a plural form is when what follows has a very strong plural force - a portion of the many different liquids which went into those containers.  But even then the singularity of a portion overrides the plural for me and for many English natives, I imagine.  Here where you have a portion of the Earth I can see no problem: it has to be was not were. Thomas Tompion Joined on Thu, Nov 20 2008 Full Member 120 Thomas Tompion Plurals, Countries, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Languages