a large number has / have

0Which, do you think, is the subject in this sentence, Yong?05002br
00I am asking because the verb has to be in singular/plural concord with it.02br
02br
00A large 01font00number02font00 of invitations 01b00has / have02b00 been sent02br
02br
00It is number and not numbers

0 After "a number of..." we normally use a plural verb, e.g.02br
00- "A number of questions were asked." (Unit 79 'Oxford Practice Grammar')02br
00- "A number of us are worried about it." (Page 61 Swan's 'How English Works')02br
02br
00That site(*) you mentioned, Inchoateknowledge, in another posting gives an example of how a singular verb can be used

0Hi Ann02br
02br
00"SLIGHTLY FORMAL: 01b01i00A large number of invitations has been sent02i02b00." What I don't understand is it should be "A large number of invitations have been sent" and yet 'has' is used in the sentence quoted by you. Furthermore, it is SLIGHTLY FORMAL. What does 'slightly formal' mean? I thought that it should be be

0 Yong,02br
02br
00Slightly formal means it is slightly more frequent that this construction appears in formal speech than in informal one. 02br
00Why did you think it is more like informal to say 01b01i00number has02i02b0-

0 01blockquote

01cite10Inchoateknowledge12cite10Yong,12br
12br
10Slightly formal means it is slightly more frequent that this construction appears in formal speech than in informal one. 12br
10Why did you think it is more like informal to say 11b11i10number has12i12b12br
12bl

0 Strange, perhaps, but:02br
02br
01i01b00a02b00 number of Xs02i00 is plural.02br
01i01b00the02b00 number of Xs02i00 is singular.02br
02br
00 CJ0-

1font01i00Number02i02font00. Like other collective nouns 01i00number02i00 may take either a singular or a plural verb. Unlike most of them, it admits of a simple and logical rule. When all that it is doing is forming part of a composite plural subject, it should have a plural verb, as in: 01blockquote

0 01blockquote

01cite10Yoong Liat12cite10A large 11b11i11font10number12font12i12b10 of invitations11font10 12font11b11font10has12font10 / have12b10 been sent.12br
1

0 01i00A number of invitations have02br
00The number of invitations has02i02br
00(from "Advanced grammar in use" Cambridge University Press)0-

1i00A number of invitations have -- a number of -- have the notion of02i00 01b00several02br
02b01i00The number of invitations has -- the number -- have the notion of 02i01b00one number02b02br
02br
01i00A number of invitations has -- grammatical concord02i02br
02br