HELP WITH GRAMMAR

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

Moderator: Alan

Locked
User avatar
ughpaolo
Member
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 10:02 am
Status: Other

HELP WITH GRAMMAR

Post 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.
User avatar
Alan
Teacher/Moderator
Teacher/Moderator
Posts: 15204
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2003 7:56 pm
Status: Teacher of English
Location: Japan

Re: HELP WITH GRAMMAR

Post by Alan »

'Chances ARE...' is right. In accordance with normal grammar, a plural noun governs a plural verb!
Locked