You asked:
Which is correct?
A block of rooms has been reserved.
A block of rooms have been reserved.
Grammar Pulis answers:
Yippee! A subject verb agreement question.
I’ll answer your question by first, giving the right answer, and then explaining why.
The grammatically correct sentence is:
A block of rooms has been reserved.
Why? The verb has to agree with the headword or the main noun. In this case the headword is block. “of rooms” are modifiers. Because the headword (block) is in singular form, the verb (has) needs to be in singular form as well.
Here are more examples that follow this rule. I have used bold font for the headwords.
The stack of records has been moved into another cabinet.
A series of concerts has been scheduled for summer.
A herd of zebras passing by is making me dizzy.
A cast of thousands gets ready for the first shooting day.
My set of silver and onyx jewelry is missing.
At your service,
Grammar Pulis
Source: Understanding Grammar, Third Edition by Martha Kolln
8 replies on “You Ask About Subject-Verb Agreement. Grammar Pulis Answers.”
yahoo! somebody to rid the world of horrendously wrong grammage!
BTW: “records”… typo methinks…
oh… and can you join me on the crusade against the word “equipmentS”?
Hey, how about if you take jab on some of the inappropriate words that we often see in job ads? I remember you complaining about the use of term “in need of” I’m sure you can come up with more. 🙂
good idea, ed!
jag, furnitures, equipments, advices. ugh!
jag, thanks for the typo spotting. i have edited the post. grammar pulis also needs her own grammar police.
thanks for this blog, wow!
it’s my first visit here and I’m impressed. great to know there is a blog such as this. I’m glad to know my English may not be bad after all =) I was accused before online of not having correct subject-verb agreement. Hmm, i don’t know…
hi, I learned before that the noun "number" is singular by itself but the phrase "a number of …" calls for a plural verb…nice blog 🙂
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