Which is grammatically correct?

[sjwright]

Just to settle an ongoing disagreement in the office:

Which is grammatically correct:

- A whole new range of houses is coming soon to Royston
- A whole new range of houses are coming soon to Royston

I say that its the first, as the (singuar) range of (many) houses is 1 unit, therefore should be 'is coming soon'...

If there were more than 1 range of houses, then fair enough, 'are' is correct?

Ideas on a postcard please!

[jno]

yes, yes, MR, my question was aimed at chakka.

[Answerprancer]

...the yolk of the egg is yellow !

[factor-fiction]

I think we are in a agreement that it should be " a new range.. is".
I think the confusion arose from mike11111's suggestion that MrsLeeG and woofgang were both wrong-I think woofgang was actually correct in that he/she was saying sjwright was correct in saying " is.." is correct.

[classylady60]

Hoorah!

[LoftyLottie]

Phewwww

[Bummle]

I agree with you.

[chakka35]

There is certainly a case for considering the singular 'range' to be the subject, thereby demanding a singular verb. It's what you might call the mechanistic, formulaic view.

But our language can be subtler than that and there is just as good a case (in my view a better one) for considering 'houses' to be the subject with ''new range of' being an adjectival phrase qualifying that subject. Here's a case where 'range' is most certainly the subject:

"The whole new range of houses coming to Royston is smaller than that coming to Grantchester but is larger than the new range already built at Saffron Walden." Similarly:

"A number of cows in Farmer Giles' field are black. The number of cows in Farmer Giles' field is greater than the number in Farmer Jenks' field." In the first case 'cows' is the subject; in the second case 'number'.

Yes, it is the box of buttons which IS being delivered. That's what the intended meaning demands.

I'm getting as bored with this as some of the rest of you already are, but for different reasons. As a start, and as a goodwill gesture, I will now stop boring you. Have your "is" on me and enjoy it.

[gingejbee]

Similarly, "the team is" not "are" and "the Government is" not "are". Agreed?

[MarkRae]

^^Definitely.

[vivandorron]

I think a number of Sports Reporters should join AB for a few lessons.

How often do we hear them saying things, such as "The team are doing well".."Manchester United have won the cup" "The squad are in training" etc. etc.

Ron.

[mike11111]

The point which has been missed by most posters, including the pedant grammarians, is that a collective noun, though singular in grammatical form, has a plural meaning, and therefore the verb following can be singular or plural, depending on whether it is considered a single entity or the sum of its members.
Thus: "Class 3A is the top form of the school".
"Class 3A are to collect their prizes tomorrow". To "collect its prizes" is clearly nonsense.

[jno]

a common approach with sport is to regard the club as singular but the team as plural: Chelsea is Russian-owned but Chelsea are rubbish.

However, "a range of houses" is not necessarily a collective noun at all (unlike, say "a lot of houses") because it may indeed refer to a new range. In such cases where it's ambiguous, default to the singular verb for the singular subject.

[Stargazer]

The correct word here shoud be "is"
and while on the subject of the English language can we all agree about less and fewer?

[echokilo]

You don't need is or are:
A whole new range of houses coming soon to Royston ......... this is perfectly correct too - espeically if for an advert or billboard.

[Stargazer]

now let's get onto "should of" "would of" "could of" etc
and "we was" "I done it" "we done it" "I haven't got none" and so on ..... GRRRR

[vallaw]

The verb is the continuous present form of "to come". The subject is "a range", singular, qualified by the adjectival phrase "whole new". The verb should be singular to match the subject. The plurality of the houses is a red herring.

[Stargazer]

"In the office" SJ. Whereabout do you live?