By Uncountable nouns, Singular verbs

Please kindly indicate the correct answers for the following questions and justifications to the answers. 1. They do these things so quietly that nobody is ever sure of what (is/ are) happening. 2. Various kinds of food (has /have) been already been prepared. Come and help yourself to...

Hi Amy >However, even when it means "many pieces of news', it is used with a singular verb. Do you mean 'a three pieces of news are reported' is incorrect? If so, this is a little different to an uncountable noun, isn't it? Because we can use both an uncountable noun and a plural verb with...

Feebs11 wrote:News is a plural noun always used with a singular verb, meaning information about recent events or happenings, especially as reported by newspapers, periodicals, radio, or television.Hi FeebsI was taught that 'news' is an uncountable noun.

Selecter wrote: Maya2 wrote: Nona is right Majority has plural value It's not always true.A/The majority of + plural noun = plural verb (are)The majority of + uncountable noun = singular verb (is) Moroccan is a countable noun The majority of + uncountable noun = singular verb -- I was not...

Hi guys, The majority of + uncountable noun = singular verb (is) This structure is somewhat controversial. My dictionary comments that 'Some people feel that majority in this sense should only be used with countable nouns', although it goes on to recognize that we often in fact say things like...

Maya2 wrote:Nona is right Majority has plural valueIt's not always true.A/The majority of + plural noun = plural verb (are)The majority of + uncountable noun = singular verb (is)

Believer wrote: Hi, Yoong Liat I was looking at my Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner's English Dictionary for the word 'ash' and it had a notation among other notations something like this. Can you tell me if that tells anything about its countability. I am confused about the "also N in pl"...

Hiops wrote:1.Why do you think this is right?Why you think this is right?2. Thre is a lot of books on the shelf. Thre are a lot of books on the shelf. The phrase 'a lot of' means 'many'. That's why you should say 'There are a lot of ..." But if you use 'a lot of' with an uncountable noun, then...

Hi, 1. Which one is right or are they both right? Everything went smooth. Everything went smoothly. In your example, you need the adverbial form. 'Smoothly' modifies 'went', ie it describes the 'going', not 'everything'. However, consider 'When I fell and hit my head, everything went...

1. Which one is right or are they both right? Everything went smooth. Everything went smoothly. 2. When puttng the word "more" in front of uncountable nouns, is it always the case that the verbs have to be in singular? More furniture means more money. More equipment means more money. How...