These questions test nouns whose visible shape does not reliably announce singular or plural agreement. Some answers depend on a fixed lexical class, while others depend on whether the sentence presents a group, quantity or set of data as one whole or as separate members.
Separate fixed number from intended number
| Subject pattern | Standard British agreement |
|---|---|
| team, family, committee, government, majority | Singular when the group is viewed as one unit; plural when its members are in view. Both are codified standard forms. American English generally favours singular agreement, and an institutional house style may impose its own preference. |
| police, people as the ordinary plural of person, cattle | Plural only in these ordinary group meanings. A singular member needs a different noun. |
| news, mathematics, measles | Singular despite the final s. Their spelling is not a plural count marker in these senses. |
| scissors, trousers; a pair of either noun | The two-part noun alone is plural. With a pair of, pair is the singular head. |
| data | Plural for a count reading as the plural of datum; singular for a contemporary mass-noun reading. With no register, house style or lexical signal, both are accepted. |
| a duration, distance, sum, other measure or plural-looking title | Singular when the wording presents one total, work or entity. Plural remains possible when separate units are genuinely intended. |
| a fraction, percentage or portion followed by of | Follow the number after of: singular or uncountable complements take singular agreement, and plural count complements take plural agreement. A collective complement keeps the unit-or-members choice. |
| a number of; the number of | A number of means several and takes plural agreement. The number of denotes one count or total and takes singular agreement. |
Use the most specific row first. A fixed lexical class outranks appearances; an explicit total or member reading outranks the mere presence of a plural ending. With a British collective, do not import the usual American singular preference as a universal rule. If the context does not choose between unit and members, the singular and plural forms remain standard alternatives rather than a right-and-wrong pair.
Traps built into these questions
- A group word is assumed to be singular merely because it lacks a plural ending. The singular options attached to police and ordinary plural people come from this surface-shape mistake; these lexemes belong to the fixed-plural list.
- A final s is treated as decisive in both directions. Plural auxiliaries offered with news or measles misread singular names, while singular auxiliaries offered with trousers misread a two-part plural. In a pair-of construction, the opposite error ignores the singular head pair.
- The nearest noun after of takes over without checking the construction. The plural form offered after the number of ignores the singular count or total denoted by number. A number of follows a separate plural pattern, while fractions and portions follow the number of their complement.
- Visible plural units are automatically given a plural verb even when the sentence explicitly packages them as one total. That loses the single-whole reading; it does not establish that plural agreement is impossible when individual units are actually meant.
- Past-tense and non-finite options are mistaken for rival number choices in present-time collective items. Their problem is tense or finiteness. The codified singular and plural present forms for the British collective remain available whenever the intended reading licenses them.
Try it
Which sentence has an agreement error triggered by a fraction followed by an of-phrase?
- Half of the notebooks is already labelled.
- The damaged roof remains completely hidden by dense fog.
- Three bakers carefully measured all the flour.
- Several impatient guests are still waiting beside the locked doors.
Enter the present-perfect auxiliary that completes the sentence: A number of residents ___ requested a later bus service.