Plural or singular for pecentage

Question

Hi,I would like to ask whether this particular sentence should use singular or plural verb:There is a small percentage of females in this school.  Thanks!Cheers,JenniferUnagi:)

Canadian45 · Accepted Answer

jenniferunagiHi,I would like to ask whether this particular sentence should use a singular or plural verb:
There is a small percentage of females in this school.

First I'll ask you to choose between "is" and "are" in the two sentences below.

There (is)(are) a small number of females in this school.

The percentage of females in this school (is)(are) small.

Jenniferunagi · Answer

Hi,

for both sentences I would choose are.

Reason: it is countable.

Thanks!

Cheers,

JenniferUnagi:)

Canadian45 · Answer

Hi Jennifer. I will give you my comments on our posts in the reverse order we wrote them.

These is-are/was-were questions are controversial in that you can often get different answers to any one question/sentence. That is because one can choose to emphasize different nouns within the sentence. You can argue both ways in the following sentence..

'Four tons of coal (was)(were) delivered yesterday.'

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1) There (is)(are) a small number of females in this school.

2) The percentage of females in this school (is)(are) small.

For both sentences I would choose are.

Reason: it is countable. You didn't say what is countable' but it doesn't matter. Just because something is countable doesn't mean you should use a plural verb. There could only be one of that countable thing.

Also you have special sentences like 'Five kilometers is to far to walk.'

We are taught to use 'is' there because we are talking about a distance that is too far to walk. And that makes sense, even with "kilometers'.

Also...

'Two hours is too long to wait.'[Y]

'Three hundred dollars is too much.'[Y]

1) There are a small number of females in this school. [Y] There is obviously more than one female in this school.

2) The percentage of females in this school is small. [Y] about (7% for example)

We are talking about the percentage of females, not the 'number' of females.

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I would like to ask whether this particular sentence should use a singular or plural verb:

There is a small percentage of females in this school.

Does the above sentence more closely resemble sentence 1 or 2? (assuming you and others agree with what I said above)

Native speakers not infrequently disagree on subject-verb questions. Also, experts may say one thing is correct, but the the majority of native speakers many say the other thing.

I think the above bolded sentence is a good example of a sentence that has no clearly correct or wrong answer.

You could focus on "percentage" and say 'is', and that probably sounds more correct.

Or you can focus on "females" and say that "a small percentage of females" logically is equivalent to "a small number of females" in which case you could choose "are".

So maybe the main thing I've done is show you how complicated subject-verb agreement can be.

JenniferUnagi:)

Plural or singular for pecentage

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