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HELP WITH GRAMMAR

Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 10:09 am
by ughpaolo
please help. i got on a debate with my english teacher. we were supposed to state which part of the sentence makes it wrong. the sentence was "your chances of drowning are almost zero percent, if you are careful." she told us nothing was wrong. and i told her that the sentence was supposed to be "your chances of drowning is almost zero percent, if you are careful." which one is right? the one with IS sounds better to me. or am i just wrong? this got me into the principal's office. they saw it as disrespectful as i debated with her. can you state some other examples, where i can use "are" and "is". thanks. please help.

Re: HELP WITH GRAMMAR

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 3:32 am
by Alan
'Chances ARE...' is right. In accordance with normal grammar, a plural noun governs a plural verb!