use the correct option to fill in the blanks
1. A variety of books
(is/are) on display
2. The panel
(conducts/conduct) interviews in private.
3. The crowd
(is/are) growing as more people arrive.
4. We'll wait until the audience
(has/have) arrived.
5. Every family
(owns/own) a television nowadays.
6. The pride of lions (is/are) at home in the jungle,
7. The members of the audience
(is/are) taking their seats at the moment.
8. The popular poet and politician
(has/have) passed away in an accident.
9. Many a student (wishes/wish) to emulate Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
10. Rice and curry (goes/go) quite well together.
Answers
Answer:
Though those not even mentioning that 'The crowd were by now making their exit' say is acceptable (using notional agreement) are not being even-handed, singular agreement in this example sounds far more natural. 'A huge crowd' virtually demands singular agreement. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 9 '17 at 20:01
I'm like 80% sure that this is an example where AmE uses the singular and BrE uses the plural (much like "team" or "group"). Anyway I'm sure about the AmE part. – Casey Aug 9 '17 at 20:01
2
@Upper_Case Not true. "The cat seems sleeping" is easy to understand but also plainly incorrect. – Casey Aug 9 '17 at 20:17
2
I'm not saying that the choice of was rather than were is wrong where answerers have stated this; I'm saying that answers stating that this answer follows because formal agreement is the only grammatical option ('crowd is a singular noun') have arrived at the correct answer the wrong way. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 9 '17 at 20:47
2
See Are collective nouns always plural, or are certain ones singular?, Is “audience” singular or plural?, Collective nouns and subject-verb agreement: general rule or arbitrary?, Does “staff” take a plural verb?, and many, many linked questions. – choster Aug 9 '17 at 20:57
Answer:
1.are
2.conducts
3.are
4.have
5.own
6.are
7.are
8.has
9.wish
10.go