not that critical BUT:
simple-look at the use of the object(s) in the rest of the sentence
if the use is about the whole then singular
if use is about many individual parts of the group then plural
in this case what has been conducted? -tests.
i.e. all of the individual tests HAVE been done and the discussion may go on
to say the RESULT IS ...
or the RESULTS ARE....
so use plural verb have
each member of the group is voting
all members of the group are voting.
the group (as a result or as a whole ) has decided (also because it is not
possible for an individual to decide for the group-the decision is an
aggregate )
Post by Dilip BaradPost by n o s p a m p l e a s eA large number of tests has (or have?) been conducted.
What should it be?
Regards
NSP
This is really a tricky one. I am eager to know the rule of grammar
that governs such sentence construction. I feel it should be 'has'
because it is 'A large number'.... and may be 'have' because of
'tests'..... not clear??? can anybody help?
Both are possible, depending on whether the emphasis is on "number" or on
"tests".
Regards, Einde O'Callaghan
P.S. I think I answered this question - or a similar one - recently either
here or in another newsgroup.