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> As you know, there are a long list of organizations that want Tesla to die. Is it correct to use 'are' here instead of 'is'?
by jerry40 8y ago
> As you know, there are a long list of organizations that want Tesla to die.
Is it correct to use 'are' here instead of 'is'?
- jfk13 8y agoNo; "a long list" is singular.
- jerry40 8y agoThanks! I was afraid it was yet another tricky English rule.
- dri_ft 8y agoI'm not sure, but my hunch is either is OK. Compare: > There are a hundred organizations that want Tesla to die. > There is a hundred organizations that want Tesla to die.
- mbu 8y agoSecond one definitely seems wrong to me.
- mirimir 8y ago... is ... list of organizations ... ... are ... organizations ...
- ttctciyf 8y agoHow many organizations? A hundred: plural. "There are a hundred organizations.." How many lists? One: singular. "There is a list of a hundred organizations.."
- bencollier49 8y agoUK vs. US English. We (English people) say "The Football Team are playing well", for instance.
- jerry40 8y agoI'm still not sure. I discussed this topic with my English teacher (he's from the UK) yesterday and he does not like how this phrase looks either.
- RVuRnvbM2e 8y agoIt depends on which part of the sentence you would like to emphasise. In this case, the _organisations_ want Tesla to die, not the _list_. Hence the plural form. Not all collective nouns work this way, but in this case either is grammatically correct.
- jerry40 8y agoBut the words order is unambiguous (for me at least). I need to read about this topic more closely though.