By Verbs, Plurals

Re: 'Adjective Phrases' can function as subject

Inverted pseudo-cleft structure.The base sentence is:I would call him emotionless and expressionless here.It becomes, by transforming it into a pseudo-cleft structure:What I would call him is emotionless and expressionless. Inversion is then applied to highlight the original object complement...

Re: What's the rule(s) for I was vs I were?

was or were In the ordinary past tense of the verb to be, was is the first and third person singular: I was late and were is the second person singular and the plural: You were right. It is not acceptable in standard English to use were for the first and third person singular: I were late,...

Re: a pair of newly-wed

At the time of the cutting of the cake, the couple are already married (perhaps already well on the way to divorce); so "newly-weds" would be possible.I myself would use a plural verb, i.e.1. A pair of newly-weds are cutting the cake.But other members would probably prefer...

Re: am i right

Hi anapam, and welcome to English Forums. India IS - the main subject is India and the verb is "is," which matches the singular subject. "one of the foremost countries" - this part takes a plural noun. It's not the subject of the sentence. In the following expamples, the...

Re: I thought

Thanks YoongLiat for confirming that. Come to think of it, it could have been just a typo. Afterall,the difference is only one letter. I've made more severe typos. The bottom line is, a learner (even for me) may have a hard time deciding if it's a singular or plural verb agreement, even...

Re: Is the sentence structure right?

Hi Goodman If you had followed the thread closely, you would have noticed the following. In other words a guru has replied to the question. I agree with Barbara because she has a good command of English, and I've read about this usage before. Creativeguru asked:Only 5% of our students are...

Re: Is the sentence structure right?

From my Googling, I entered a quoted search “20% of the population”. Then I randomly selected these articles and the result was nearly 50/50 with singular and plural verb agreement. Uganda, Abstinence and the Spread of HIV : NPR Aug 14, 2006 ... In Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and...

Re: Is the sentence structure right?

Hi Liat,I think what you said is contradicting. You are saying both of my exmaples are grammatically acceptable only with the right perception. A group of students was found lost in the forest. (If the students are perceived as a group, is should be used.) If the rule sticks as you described...

Re: "have" or "has" in this sentence?

I've always thought both were possible, depending on what you are focusing on, but I've also always thought the singular might be much more common. Well, I was curious, so I just tried to type "one of those people who" site:www.usatoday.com on Google, and almost all verbs that...

Re: Is the sentence structure right?

Liat, I don’t think the correct answer should be dependent on the number of student based on the original question which was only 5% of the students are placed after completion of their training. Clearly, the subject is the percentage which is “5%”, not the student; if my understanding is true....