Subject-Verb Agreement: Is or Are?

Question

Struggling with subject-verb agreement in the following sentence: The remainder of the population is/are children of diplomats. I think the word "remainder" here is a collective noun or "noun of multitude" and should take the plural verb "are" (synesis or notional agreement), as in the sentence "A lot of people are wearing raincoats today." Am I right, or am I all wet? I'm thinking that "are" reflects the plural sense or notional agreement.

Thanks!

Word warrior23 · Accepted Answer

is

Goronsky · Answer

Thanks, but my ear tells me 'are'.

Word warrior23 · Answer

That's probably because of the occurrence of 'population'. However, your actual subject of the sentence is 'remainder' and therefore should take 'is'.

RandomGuy · Answer

The actual subject is the whole NP the remainder of the population.

And my ear also tells me are.

Rule 8. With words that indicate portions—percent, fraction, part, majority, some, all, remainder, etc.—you must look at the object of the preposition to determine whether to use a singular or plural verb. If the object of the preposition is singular, use a singular verb. If the object of the preposition is plural, use a plural verb.

Examples
Fifty percent of the pie has disappeared.
Pie is the object of the preposition of.
Fifty percent of the pies have disappeared.
Pies is the object of the preposition.
One third of the city is unemployed.
One third of the people are unemployed.
All of the pie is gone.
All of the pies are gone.
Some of the pie is missing.
Some of the pies are missing.

(http://dixiewritingcenter.com/resources/subject-verb-agreement/)

Population often has a plural interpretation, so you’re good.

Fivejedjon · Answer

In BrE, population can be followed a singular or plural verb.

Subject-Verb Agreement: Is or Are?

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