0
Guest Posted 22 years ago
Grammar

Was/were

Hi,

Can someone tell me the answer to this one?

A wide range of valuable stones was/were used in the construction of the palace.

Shouldn't it be, "A wide range of valuable stones were used..." ? An English teacher friend of mine tells me that it should be "was".

Thanks,
Alice
  

Top answer

I think the sentence was refering to "A wide range = was" rather than "valuable stones = were".

— Nsing

  • I think the sentence was refering to "A wide range = was" rather than "valuable stones = were".
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

4 Answers
0
I think the sentence was refering to "A wide range = was" rather than "valuable stones = were".
0
0
It should be were,because here stone the subject should be in agreement with the verb i.e. were
0
0
So, which is the correct one?
0
0
The great thing about prepositional phrases is that you can delete them without changing the meaning of the sentence to check your grammar:

"A wide range () was/were used in the construction of the palace."

Now it is obviously "was".

In fact, forget everything else in the sentence!

"A range was/were used."

The answer is still "was".
0

Related Questions