should a verb after the phrase "a series of" be singular or plural?   A series of incidents has taken place since the accident. A series of incidents have taken place since the accident.
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Formally, is it correct to write:     A number of questions has been asked here.   or:     A number of questions have been asked here.   As a non-native speaker of English, I would prefer the former: the subject seems to be "number", therefore the verb ought to be singular, I'd say. However, the latter seems more common, and therefore I believe that my gut feeling is just plain wrong — but I would really like to have a definite answer.  Moreover, is it the same for "a myriad of", "a plethora of", and so on?
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What happens if you have a written phrase like     We were looking at the same poster(s).   but with a noun that has an irregular plural? E.g. with baby/babies, would this be the correct form?     We were looking at the same baby(ies).   Or, as a more exotic case:     We were looking at the same matrix(???). (plural is matrices)   Is there a rule or guideline for this?
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Possible Duplicate:          I'm writing an interrogative sentence questioning someone else's writing:  "Is grammar and spelling correct?"  Can I use the singular verb "is" or must it be the plural verb "are"?  (The sentence is one of a list of interrogative questions about the quality of writing, e.g. "Are words in the right order?" "Does the copy flow?")
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I want to write that I have handful of somethings.  Which of these is the correct form?   There is a handful of somethings. There are a handful of somethings.   Are both correct?
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Possible Duplicate:             I've done a bit of research and I understand that "family" should be preceded by  singular or plural verb depending on how you want it to be treated. For example,      His family is one of the oldest in the county.   and     His family are all doctors.   These are apparently both correct.   But in the following instance, could a grammar expert tell me which should be be?     When his family are abducted   or      When his family is abducted   ?  Thanks.
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Should I use is or are in this sentence? I don't know what the difference is. As I was trying to figure it out, plural and singular came to mind. Is family plural or singular and is that a factor?   Family is very important to me. Family are very important to.
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Take the examples:   "One in ten children are dyslexic."  "One in ten children is dyslexic." "One in ten children has dyslexia." "One in ten children have dyslexia."   The "one" is singular so 2 and 3 should be correct. But the "one in ten" is a fraction" so 1 and 4 should be correct. And yet I think I usually say 1 and 3. Which is/are correct?!
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Kindly, what are your thoughts on the following sentences:        The maximum number of wordbooks (%d) have been saved.   The maximum number of wordbooks (%d) has been saved.      My opinion is that (1) is more appropriate as "save" relates to wordbooks (a plural noun) and "The ... number" is some kind of determiner.  The dissenting opinion is that "The number" is obviously singular, and the "wordbooks" are subsidiary.  I agree that (2) is grammatically correct but I maintain it implies merely a single number was saved, not the wordbooks themselves.
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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.
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According to Garner's fourth edition  Though serving as a plural when the need arises, series is ordinarily a singular noun. But it is also a noun of multitude, so that phrases such as a series of things take a plural verb. However, the collocation there {has been - is} a series has predominated in print sources. Common nouns of multitude: lot, majority, mass, minority, multitude, percentage, proportion, variety.  However,  reads  When it has the singular sense of &quot;one set,&quot; it takes a singular verb, even when series is followed by of and a plural noun: A series of lectures is scheduled.  Are these dissimilar usages stylic advice? Secondly, the inversion after there also chooses singular elsewhere; why is it so?  When the verb precedes the noun percentage, a singular verb is required. That is, a higher percentage of them are, but there is a higher percentage of them.
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Possible Duplicate:          When I'm referring to a group of multiple things, should it be considered singular or plural for the purposes of applying a verb to it?  For example, which is correct in the examples below?     A sentence is a group of words that is followed by a period.   A sentence is a group of words that are followed by a period.      The group of people constitutes a jury.   The group of people constitute a jury.      A group of crows is called a 'murder'.   A group of crows are called a 'murder'.   My instinct is that it depends on whether the verb is referncing the group itself or the members of the group directly, but is that right?
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"Separate students according to their academic performance(s)."   (For example, their test results.) Should I use singular or plural in this phrase?  I did some research, but the example  is quite different than mine.
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We had an argument in our collage if it's possible to have such structure:     "How many -singular noun- is there?"   For example:      How many chair is there?   The claim of the supporters: This structure should be used in case that t is not known whether there is one one or more chairs there. While just in case that it is known certainty that there are more than one chair, it should be "how many chairs are there".    The claim of the opponents: This structure cannot be since using the phrase "how many" always should be with a plural noun.  Both sides are not native English speakers, then I would like to know what is the truth.
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1) "The book 'The Three Musketeers' is a wonderful example of..." Here we have a proper noun, a title that happens to end in a plural, and I have no sense that the verb should be plural. "Musketeers"/is seems proper/natural/correct, and 'are' not at all.   However, such certainty begins to wane in other examples: 2) "'The Heidi Chronicles' is a wonderful example of..." doesn't completely shake my confidence, but it moves the needle, at least a little bit. But, practically speaking, I wouldn't have a second thought about correcting a student who used 'are' instead of 'is'.  Here's the one that really bothers me: 3a) " 'The Basement Tapes' are a wonderful example of..." I don't think this sounds any less proper/natural/correct than 3b) " 'The Basement Tapes' is..." In fact, 3a seems less awkward than 3b.  Why?
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A friend wants to write,   There is no hardware to purchase, no additional software to install and no key fobs to worry about.   This is awkward because the verb "is" doesn't match up with the third item, which is plural and demands "There are" as the subject. However,    There is no hardware to purchase, no additional software to install and there are no key fobs to worry about.   sounds awkward as well.  Is there a good workaround for this problem where some list items are singular and some are plural, so they don't share a common verb?
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I read the following sentence on YouTube and initially thought it was grammatically incorrect:     Here are 10 minutes of the movie Black Hawk Down!   I thought "are" should have been "is" but then I realized minutes is plural so the plural form, are, is used correctly. I also thought how most people would naturally say "Here is ten dollars in change" but is the use of the singular form, is, correct since dollars is plural?   Am I misunderstanding a rule?
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In a question like this one, for example,      Who have/has come?    Is the word "who" singular or plural? Or is it both plural and singular?   I have heard it’s plural. Please correct me if I am wrong.