singular verb
collocation in Englishmeaningsofsingularandverb
These words are often used together. Click on the links below to explore the meanings. Or,see other collocations withverb.
singular
adjective
uk/ˈsɪŋ.ɡjə.lər/us/ˈsɪŋ.ɡjə.lɚ/
language
of or relating to the form of a word used when talking or writing about ...
See more atsingular
verb
noun[C]
uk/vɜːb/us/vɝːb/
a word or phrase that describes an action, condition, ...
See more atverb
(Definition ofsingularandverbfrom theCambridge English Dictionary© Cambridge University Press)
Examplesofsingular verb
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
Notionally, then, in the writer's mind, there is presumably only one thing present, hence thesingularverb.
From theCambridge English Corpus
For instance, the quantitative analysis that follows will reveal that collectives are very often followed by asingularverb.
From theCambridge English Corpus
As could be expected,singularverbagreement predominates with most nouns.
From theCambridge English Corpus
According to (10), a plural noun phrase agreeing with asingularverbleads to a dual interpretation.
From theCambridge English Corpus
A third personsingularverbcannot identify the features of a third person plural pro.
From theCambridge English Corpus
The token frequencies of nouns do not appear to affect the preference forsingularverbagreement.
From theCambridge English Corpus
This indicates that there indeed is a tendency to usesingularverbagreement when there are a large number of people in the referent.
From theCambridge English Corpus
So have clauses whose subjects are clausal or infinitival, or which are man, men 'one' with asingularverb.
From theCambridge English Corpus
Most nouns have developed a strong preference forsingularverbagreement, some remain variable, and some prefer the plural.
From theCambridge English Corpus
Both writers agree that onlysingularverbagreement is used with inanimate referents.
From theCambridge English Corpus
For example, the preference forsingularverbagreement with ensemble, military, and gang often overrides contextual factors favouring the plural.
From theCambridge English Corpus
Perhaps the proximity of the plural noun scales prevents thesingularverbform in this case.
From theCambridge English Corpus
This investigation found no evidence thatsingularverbagreement, which is argued in this study to be the unmarked alternative, is generally on the increase.
From theCambridge English Corpus
It is not always clear which singular element in the sentence triggers thesingularverbform.
From theCambridge English Corpus
No plural and used with asingularverbonly.
From theCambridge English Corpus
The results do not indicate a general increase in (unmarked)singularverbagreement, but rather that some lowfrequency nouns with intermediate preferences for the singular are changing towards the singular.
From theCambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
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