A pair requires singular but you say a dozen needs to be plural. In your original sentence I would say "... but a pair of them were waiting", so there's no difference. When a pair is considered a single entity it may take

Hi Alex Here's a good description of the kinds of indefinite pronouns and the verb forms they require: http://www.grammaruntied.com/blog/?p=319 In the first sentence i would say neither of them is her boyfriend. Or you could say "Neither

Clarencetsang: If you have decided that you wish to start your sentence with "My favorite food...," you have two options: (1) You may follow the "rule" -- "food" is singular. So use the singular verb (My favorite food

Too many questions in one post!! 1. "If you add to a thread that already has 18 pages of discussion, it probably won't get much attention. If you have a new question, make a new posting." > Why is "posting" instead of

Am I seriously wrong if I tell her that SINGULAR REGULAR NOUNS (I'm not talking about proper nouns, plural nouns, or pronouns) DO NOT START SENTENCES, but follow an article or a word like "some," "one," "that,"

Making a fresh pot of coffee and breakfast for us is what my mom does first thing every morning.. I have two nouns here, coffee and breakfast but verb is still singular. It sounds perfectly fine to my ears … When speaking, I would naturally use

Which brings me back to my earlier contention; it is important to determine the number of your subject before you can employ a verb. If your subject is a single "group", then use the singular verb, if your subject is "groups",

More than half of the neighborhood that I grew up ... Is one more likely to be said than the other? Both sentences are incorrect. "Neighborhood" (in AmE at least) takes a singular verb, so "was", not "were" should be

Why? Only if he'd called her by her name in ... would not have been the best use of the language. I'm assuming you think that singular "they" is indeed "the best use of the language" when referring to a person of

Three cats is 3 instances of the conceptual class "Cat". ... When they multiply, the result is expressed in litters. Does any other more appropriate word come to your mind? To help you let me specify what exactly problem is ... such a