HAS BEEN vs HAVE BEEN

have

I looked on google and some say HAS

Its one couple and not 2

How come its HAVE??

Thanks

alc24I looked on google and some say HAS

Its one couple and not 2

How come its HAVE??

Thanks

Remember that Google gives frequency, not necessarily accuracy. The subject of the original sentence is we, plural: keep it plural in the relative pronoun.

How would you explain it to an ESL student?

Could you help me with the following sentence?

"HAVE is linked to Couple and not A COUPLE"

what I'm trying to say is that it's liked to COUPLE and not the fact that it's only 1 COUPLE as COUPLE implies 2.

Is it right to say LINKED?

how would you explain it?

Thanks

'A couple' is always together -- otherwise it would not be a couple. Here, we are referring to the two people that make up the couple; they have been together as a couple. Hence, 'the couple have been together' because the plural form refers to the individual members here. This is very similar to 'the team is playing' and 'the team are all wearing different shirts'.

alc24How would you explain it to an ESL student?

I would explain it this way: native speakers use "have" in that case.

Some things better be learned by heart. You can take my word for it.

Perhaps making it a compound sentence will help illustrate what some have been trying to say:

We are a young couple, and we have been together for two years.

That's the relationship I feel between the main clause and the relative clause.