He ran five miles. Five miles were run by him. Five miles was run by him. Five miles was as far as he could run. "Five miles" is a single distance, not a set of five discrete miles, so it takes a singular verb. It's true that that is

( . . . ) Five miles was run by ... of five discrete miles, so it takes a singular verb. Sometimes "five miles" is a set of five miles; "five miles were run by him" is a case in point. That wouldn't be true unless you could

( . . . ) He ran five miles. Five miles were run by him. Five miles was run by him. Five miles was as far as he could run. "Five miles" is a single distance, not a set of five discrete miles, so it takes a singular verb. Sometimes

( . . . ) He ran five miles. Five miles were run by him. Five miles was run by him. Five miles was as far as he could run. "Five miles" is a single distance, not a set of five discrete miles, so it takes a singular verb.

Bob Martin wrote I just read this in a novel : "One thing ... wrong to me, but 'was' doesn't sound quite right either. Isn't the basic problem with that sentence not that "one thing" is being treated as plural, but

I just read this in a novel : "One thing she'd grown to love about London were the parks." 'One thing ... were' sounds completely wrong to me, but 'was' doesn't sound quite right either. Isn't the basic

On 27 Oct 2003, Skitt wrote There are differences in meaning, though. "Numerous" means "a large ... "numerous" is *not* almost invariably better than "a number of". That's why I included the

I have ... We have ... They have... ( Plural subject in agreement with plural verb ) He has ... She has ... ( Singular subject in agreement with singular verb ) " had " normally is used for something in the past when one thing is

Thanks. Does it mean that all uncountable nouns must be followed by a singular verb without exception? Yes. Another name for "noncountable nouns" is "mass nouns" (water, grass, luggage, money, happiness, hair, etc.) I'm

Thanks. Does it mean that all uncountable nouns must be followed by a singular verb without exception? Yes. Another name for "noncountable nouns" is "mass nouns" (water, grass, luggage, money, happiness, hair, etc.) I'm