Variety and use of "was" or "were" in same sentence

Question

Someone please tell me which sentence is correct. I feel like i'm taking crazy pills. Words I'm concerned with are in all caps. I think #1 is correct.

#1. A VARIETY of antisense oligodeoxynucleotides WERE effective in selective inhibition of gene expression in vivo.

#2. A VARIETY of antisense oligodeoxynuceleotides WAS effective in slective inhibiton of gene expresession in vivo.

thanks,

Paco2004 · Accepted Answer

Hello Guest!

As an answer to this question I would like to quote an article of [url="http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/060.html"]the American Heritage Book of English Grammar[/url]

agreement by proximity. Certain grammatical constructions provide further complications. Sometimes the noun that is adjacent to the verb can exert more influence than the noun that is the grammatical subject. Selecting a verb in a sentence like "A variety of styles has been/have been in vogue for the last year" can be tricky. The traditional rules require "has been", but the plural sense of the noun phrase presses for "have been". While 59 percent of the Usage Panel insists on the singular verb in this sentence, 22 percent actually prefer the plural verb and another 19 percent say that either "has" or "have" is acceptable, meaning that 41 percent find the plural verb with a singular grammatical subject to be acceptable.

paco

MrPedantic · Answer

I would agree with Paco, Guest.

If I were taking an exam, I would say 'was', because it's safe.

If I were pleasing myself, I would probably say 'were', because the word has a plural sense. (This is quite common in BrE, but I believe less so in AmE.)

Or I'd rephrase it, and say 'various antisense oligo-whatevers were..'

MrP

Guest · Answer

Thanks for the info. I got a million questions like that but no need to tell all. I'm writing a thesis and some people prefer things said a certain way even though they insist that their way is correct, when in fact it boils down to preference. No need to argue I guess, just go with the flow.

Thanks again

CalifJim · Answer

I can't speak for all Americans, but I'd say it's most assuredly plural in AmE!

By the way, I doubt the meaning was as follows, but there is a case where "was" is required, namely, when "variety" means "kind" or "species" or, well, (biological) "variety"!

A great many varieties of nucleotides were tested. Most kinds were totally ineffective in inhibiting gene expression. However, a variety of antisense oligodeoxynuceleotides was effective in the selective inhibiton of gene expresession in vivo.

If "a variety" means "a single kind", "was" is the word you want. In this case, however, I'd recommend using "one variety" or "a single variety".

Variety and use of "was" or "were" in same sentence

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