In this sentence:     The ​insurance ​premium is ​small ​potatoes ​compared to what we'd have to ​pay if the ​house ​burned down.   "Small potatoes" is a plural noun, but why is the auxiliary verb "is" not "are"?
4028
My fish's native habitat is rice fields. My fish's native habitat are rice fields.   Which one is correct? I'm pretty sure it's the first, since 'is' modifies 'habitat,' but it still sounds weird...
75271
I'm under the impression that the correct verb to use is "are," but my colleagues believe it to be "is."  And what about just: "over half our board [are/is] people of color" ?  Another case: "over half the stadium [are/is] people of color"  We're tripping over these examples, any help appreciated!
39224
Because "aren't" translates to "are not" I pose the question, can you use both interchangeably (in the context of "aren't we all?")? "Are not" sounds very grammatically incorrect in this situation. Can you say "you need not go there" as opposed to "you needn't go there"?   Basically, I thought you can say "you need not" instead of "you needn't" but that you can't say "are not" instead of "aren't" (in the context I've provided) because I've never heard the second.  My friend believes that if you can use one example interchangeably, you can use the other as well.  So,   Can you use example '1' interchangeably? Can you use example '2' interchangeably?
58215
I was just copyediting  and my native English speaker Sprachgefühl told me I had to correct the grammar of one sentence:     ... 5–6 weeks are a lot of time ...   by changing the are to is. But as I was doing so I started wondering why is it that in this case it seems that I have to make the verb disagree with the plural subject?  So is my feeling for English going bad or if I did the right thing, how could I explain this to somebody who's learning English for instance?
108398
Well we know that is is the correct form for singular and are is the correct form for plural, right?  As such "There is a great pizza place in Chicago" would be correct in prose or dialogue as would "No, actually there are many great pizza places in Chicago."  However, I hear and occasionally myself say, "If you go to Gino's, I'd stick to the one downtown, but there's several locations now."  So my question is: Is this tense mismatch an eccentricity of speech, or is there any basis for this contraction of there's in plural?  Are you hungry now?  Edit: My question specifically asks for an irregular usage concern. Of course I know what it's supposed to say.
40348
This question is also open on EL&amp;U:   Considering the amount of controversy it aroused, I believe it's past "Learners'" level.    An edit was suggested to my sentence.     There was were an orange, some grapes, two apples and a small pile of cherries on the plate.   In my native language plurality of the verb always follows plurality of the first element on the list. There were an orange,... sounds awkward to me, no matter what follows up. My simple solution was reordering:     There were some grapes, an orange, two apples and a small pile of cherries on the plate.   But that's not the first time I faced this situation and I'd like to know what the rules of grammar say about that — was my editor overzealous or am I trying to copy rules of my language that don't apply in English?
14642
I am having trouble with the following sentence:      "The complexity and diversity of the new platforms is worrying us."   If "complexity" and "diversity" constitute two subjects, then the verb should presumably be "are"; however, the sentence feels more natural with "is". Is this correct? Is there a linguistic term for this occurrence?    The following questions address the general topic of compound subjects, but not specific cases like this:             And the following question seems to have somewhat inconclusive answers:         So this question is not really a duplicate of these three.
53363
Generally, one doesn't use the indefinite article with a noun because it's plural, but sometimes you get nouns where, for some reason, the indefinite article isn't used even though the noun is singular.  I would never say 'a software', though it seems to be a singular noun, and I've heard it said (though it sounds wrong).  Instead, we say 'some software' or 'a piece of software' (the latter implying that software is singular), so why does 'a software' sound wrong?  EDIT: I really meant to ask why we don't consider software singular.  Maybe I should have asked, 'why is software a mass noun?'
99890
I'm reading Robinson Crusoe and came across many of these constructions with "but" in it. I can't help but thought they were a little unusual. I don't consider myself fluent in English, that's why I ask.  Here is an example:     This I saw no remedy for but by making an enclosure about it with a   hedge; which I did with a great deal of toil, and more, because it   required speed.   Second one:      However, as my arable land was but small, suited to my crop, I got   it totally well fenced in about three weeks' time;   By typing the second out I figured it is actually the normal textbook case of "but", just an, in my opinion, screwed ordering in the sentence. Is this what it means?     However, as my arable land was suited to my crop but small, I got it   totally well fenced in about three weeks time;   Why did the author do this? Can you comment on the first sentence too? It's not a textbook-but-usage as I see it.
33877
I was solving some general questions about plural and singular. Then I came across a specific type of questions that have a hard time understanding.  Peter and Danny (is/are) going on a walk.  --> here we use 'are' because the subject of the sentence is "Peter AND Danny"  Peter, along with 100 other village people, walks.  --> here, we use "walk's'" because the subject of the sentence is Peter(singluar).  But the problem here is, why is the subject of the first sentence plural, while the subject of the second sentence is singular? Both of the sentences seem to talk about more than one person doing the action (walking), and yet, the subject of the first sentence is pleura, and the subject of the second sentence is singular...   Is it because of the difference between 'and' and 'along with'? If so, what happens if I use 'with', 'or', 'combined with', and so on? In what situation, does the thing become singular or plural?  I know that 'each, every, any, group of people' these types of words and phrases are singular. But if there are other nouns or phrases that I may be confused (like the one written above), it would be very nice if you could mention or talk about such additional things, as it would help me learn more about subject verb agreement. Thank you!
23779
I have been told that with the conjunction "or" we must apply the following rule: a singular verb is used if the subject that comes after "or" is singular. Is it correct?  I would naturally say the apple or the orange is good. But it seems that we should also say    the apples or the orange is good  but the orange or the apples are good.    Is it correct?  Otherwise, if I am thinking of "this or that or both", is it correct to use the plural? And say the apple or the orange are (both) good.
97159
I have a question about using the phrase "some kind of _".  Is it incorrect to say "some kind of + plural noun"?     For example, is it wrong to say "are these rock-like things some kind of chocolates?"   I didn't use "kinds" and that kind of adds to my question. Is "kind" always plural, like "some kinds of chocolates"? Because although I'm using "some", it feels like "kind" shouldn't be a countable noun.  Anyway, I don't think I've heard of "some kind of + plural", but I think it makes more sense then using singular, since I think chocolates are countable. Please help!
39519
Sentence that needs correction:      Sensationalism in television shows masquerading as "news" programs are making it difficult for serious journalism to compete for ratings.   The correction should be sensationalism...is. I don't see how the use of are is incorrect. What's wrong with the sentence above?
4044
The sentence     Women driving cars is, of course, such a foreign sight to a society like   Saudi Arabia   The subject is not "women" (otherwise, the verb would have been 'are'); the subject, as I mean to use it, is the rarity of seeing women driving cars. The subject, in other words, is "women driving cars" as a thing. Does this give me licence to use 'is' here? Thank you.
77441
The furniture in our classroom ___ uncomfortable.   Should I use is or are here? I found on the internet things like all of furniture is and house full of furniture is.  But nothing about my example. Personally I think that correct is is, but website where I found this says that correct is are. So I'm writing here to find out.
34227
While attempting to answer  @ProgramFox has been trying to come up with an example of a noun with no plural.   The best I've come up with is egotism and Judaism.  ()  Some of the contenders I've already shot down are air, water, and money.  (Airs, waters, and monies are all legitimate plurals.)  My question is, a) Do my two examples have actual plurals?  b) Are there any other non-ism nouns that don't have a plural?
3655
I'm not sure about the sentence structure below:  All kinds of problems arise that smaller animals or plants do not have to cope with.  It looks like that works as a relative pronoun for all kinds of problems, but I couldn't find such usage in my dictionary or online. This sentence could be divided into  There are all kinds of problems. Smaller animals or plants do not have to cope with all kinds of problems.  But, I can't figure out where 'arise' fits. If you have any thoughts, please share them.