Two-thirds of the lemonade has been finished off
Fractional expressions such as half of, a part of, a percentage of, a majority of are sometimes singular and sometimes plural, depending on the meaning
numbers
grokus
Below are examples of sentences containing singular and plural subjects with fractions
In English, changes in the base form of a verb must 'agree' with the subject
See CMOS 9
[correct] Fractional expressions such as a half of, a part of and a majority of can be followed by a singular or a plural verb
When all, any, more, most and some act as subjects, the verb can be singular or plural, depending on the meaning
If it is used with a singular noun that represents a group of people, the verb can be singular or plural in British English, but is usually singular in North American English: A tiny fraction of the population never vote/votes
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She hesitated for the merest fraction of a second
Five and two make/makes seven
Banned
Some of the voters are still angry A large percentage of the older population is voting against her
But in some cases, the boundaries between plural and singular nouns are blurred
Understanding when to use singular or plural forms is crucial for effective written communication
Like number, these take a singular verb when preceded by the (common for percentage but rare for fractions)
Some indefinite pronouns such as all, some, are singular or plural depending on what they're referring to
When a subject is made up of nouns joined by or, the verb agrees with the last noun
The following information applies in particular: To name the numerator of the fraction (the first or upper value), the basic/cardinal numbers (which are ‘one, three, ten’, etc
) Fractional expressions such as half of, a part of, a percentage of, a majority of are also sometimes singular and sometimes plural
[9] As with other fractions, the denominator ( b) cannot be zero
Common fractions less than one tend to be used with singular expressions: half (of) a loaf, two-thirds of a mile
Replacing two dollars with it, this, or that wouldn't make sense, so you know that the verb has to be plural
If it's made up of units, then use the plural: Of the top 100 earners, 10% own a yacht
Fractional expressions such as half of, a part of, a percentage of, a majority of are sometimes singular and sometimes plural, depending on the meaning
[For example,] The name(s) of the editor(s) of the book in reference 2 is unknown
With fractions below 1, we normally use of a + singular noun
– user 66974
So write “0
(Issue 10) Be aware that terms like "all of" and "some of" can be singular or plural
#4
Fractions such as one-half and one-third may be singular or plural depending on the referent