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As a native English speaker I disagree with this pedantry. It's correctly plural. Dictionary.com says: Usage note 2. As a collective noun, number, when preced
by gifsawww 9y ago
As a native English speaker I disagree with this pedantry. It's correctly plural.
Dictionary.com says:
Usage note
2. As a collective noun, number, when preceded by a, is most often treated as a plural: A number of legislators have voiced their dissent. When preceded by the, it is usually used as a singular: The number of legislators present was small.
- semi-extrinsic 9y agoI find it helpful in cases like this, when in doubt, to replace the phrase in question with a single word and see what makes sense then. Here: "a growing number of traders" => "they", so "are" is correct. "the growing number of traders" => "it", so "is" is correct.