Intermediate English Grammar for ESL Learners - Robin Torres-Gouzerh 2016

Collective nouns
14 Subject-verb agreement

Occasionally, a noun ending in -s is singular. This is especially true of collective nouns and noun phrases that are considered indivisible units.

The United States is an important country.

The news is televised.

The Maldives consists of 26 atolls.

The United Nations has five principal administrative bodies.

Macy’s is a department store.

Physics is a science.

Note that if such a noun is changed to a pronoun, the singular pronoun it is used. This is because the noun is considered singular: The United Nations is one unit and is therefore replaced by it and not by they or them.

This same concept can be applied to expressions of time, distance, and money.

Ten hours of flying is too long.

Thirty miles is the exact distance from here to there.

Fifty dollars is too expensive.

Note, however, that the nouns people and police are plural and take plural verb forms.

All those people are trapped inside their homes.

The police have intervened swiftly.

Finally, there are several adjectives preceded by the that are used as plural nouns.

The old are not well taken care of in this country.

The rich keep getting richer.

The wrongly accused deserve justice.

The injured and wounded lie about the battlefield.

Following is a list of other adjectives that are used as plural nouns.

the blind

the dead

the deaf

the handicapped

the living

the young

Exercise 14.6 Underline the appropriate verb form in each sentence.

1. Ten dollars is | are a reasonable price for an ink pen.

2. Five minutes is | are all the time allocated for the exam.

3. The number on that car’s license plate is | are fake.

4. Mathematics is | are used to calculate everything.

5. Physics tries | try to explain motion.

6. Massachusetts is | are 200 miles away from the border.

7. The news about the plane crash is | are pretty alarming.

8. The United Nations is | are an important international institution.

9. Many people in the world does | do not own a home.

10. The police is | are paid for by tax money and federal funds.

11. Many Japanese people likes | like pop culture.

12. Portuguese is | are similar to Spanish in pronunciation.

13. In horror movies, the living fears | fear the dead.

14. Most people is | are not allergic to bee stings.

15. The effect of the volcano’s eruption depends | depend on how elevated it is.

16. There has | have been some cases of bubonic plague in the south of the island.

Exercise 14.7 Complete each sentence with the correct simple present form of the verb in parentheses.

Example Are (be) Ben and Tina excited about going to the movies?

1. ... (be) July and August the hottest months of the year in Houston?

2. The interest rates for the house loan ... (be) cheap, because it is a small house.

3. A blue parrot and a yellow parrot ... (be) perched in the cage.

4. A yellow and blue car ... (be) parked in the driveway.

5. ... (do) most of the children take a nap after lunch?

6. ... (do) John’s dog always bark that loudly?

7. My spare key ... (be) in my back pocket.

8. Each dollar, quarter, dime, and cent ... (be) carefully accounted for in our company.

9. Attentiveness to other people’s reactions ... (make) an efficient salesman.

10. One of my sisters ... (keep) a hairbrush in her purse at all times.

11. There ... (be) lots of horses competing in the race this year.

12. My neighbor ... (knock) on my door every morning at seven to wake me up.

13. Almost one third of the land in the southwestern part of Montgomery County ... (be) unsuitable for growing crops.

14. The economic and social center of the United States ... (be) New York.

15. Three hours of jogging ... (provide) plenty of exercise.

16. In many ways, the proposed constitutional amendment on digital information ... (violate) freedom of speech.

17. A bicycle with no visible lights and no brakes ... (be) dangerous.

18. A number of parents from the association ... (plan) to protest.

19. Most of the news on the front page of the New York Times ... (be) about the explosion that took place at the Jordanian embassy.

20. The number of Aztec artifacts found in the pyramid ... (be) 20.

21. Almost all of the historical records on the Carter family ... (be) fake.

22. Every day, there ... (be) more than 200 babies born in Missouri.

23. No news ... (be) good news.

24. Every member of this group ... (be) quite intelligent.