By Singular verbs

What sometimes seems to have a plural force but nevertheless requires a singular verb. Clearly we would say What is needed is a spotlight, but what if spotlights - the plural form - is used.instead. The options are these: What is needed here is spotlights. ? What are needed are...

Hi LiJ,Perhaps you caught that error in my recent post. It was illogical for me to write "more than (one options)."Since I made that error, it is better for me to borrow this text from The American Heritage Book of English Usage to share with you: "Here’s a riddle: How can you have...

 Hi check these please: Neither you nor he is giving me present (do we use singular verb with "neither" or plural verb with "neither"?  Are we supposed to follow the second subject (HE) to determine the "to be" (is) or is it as long as there's one plural subject...

Thank you both, K. and Marius, for your input.Of course, I know that "combination" needs a singular verb, and "attributes" a plural one. I started having trouble with that sentence when I first read it out; that's probably because "attributes" is too close to...

Do you mean "percent"?

Hi Awence,yes, you can say "a drug", or "several drugs". With plurals you use a plural verb in those kinds of structures:Some of the drugs are dangerous. One half of the drugs are dangerous. Fifty percent of the drugs are dangerous. MrP's example was different... It shows...

I agree with ytsirk. Y'all need better examples though. "More" isn't a good example because it can be singular or plural depending on context. But if you say something like "One of the apples is missing." Then you don't want to teach people to think about the...

I apologize for not qualifying my comment. In that sentence, more is plural. Yes it is.

Hi,I think it should be "are" because it agrees with "drugs". It's not true "more" is plural... if you had water instead of drugs, you would say that more than 50% of the water is polluted, wouldn't you? Water is uncountable, so you use a singular verb...

Hi Tanit, You're not wrong. I just outsmarted myself, trying to introduce a touch of irony. There seems to be a mid-level of registry where we know not that we know not - or where a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. We're scolded for saying "me an' him," as...