1

I recently got a review of my paper(this is in astrodynamics) with some corrections. I am confused about the usage of 'is' and 'are' in the following sentence

My sentence

A global network of ground and space based sensors consisting of radars and optical telescopes are used to obtain measurements corresponding to over 22,000 active and inactive RSOs.

Reviewer's correction

A global network of ground and space based sensors consisting of radars and optical telescopes is used to obtain measurements corresponding to over 22,000 active and inactive RSOs.

I am confused, am I wrong? When we use a collection of things, do we refer it as a single entity or multiple

nadurthi
  • 13
  • 3
    The subject is the phrase headed by singular network; the following preposition phrase modifies it, and the following participle phrase modifies the object in the preposition phrase. – StoneyB on hiatus Mar 12 '15 at 17:51
  • It depends on the collection and how you’re viewing it. This question has been asked here at least three dozen times, but since it’s nearly always titled “Is or are?” and all three of those words are ignored by the search algorithm, the duplicates are hard to find. In your case, I’d use the singular as well: it’s the network as a whole that’s used more than the individual sensors. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 12 '15 at 17:51
  • The teacher is always right, even if there are legitimate exceptions to the rule. http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/17766/singular-is-are-plural. The search algorithm likes singular is plural are – Good A.M. Mar 12 '15 at 17:56
  • @Janus: You'd need *which* to force the subject of *are* to be the *[radars and] optical telescopes. And you'd need a more substantial change to make the subject be ground and space based sensors*.. – FumbleFingers Mar 12 '15 at 18:52
  • Thank you for the answers, I think I understand now. The `is' is referring to the network as a whole. The network consists of sensors and telescopes. May be this sentence sounds better `` A global network of ground and space based sensors, consisting of radars and optical telescopes, is used to obtain measurements corresponding to over 22,000 active and inactive RSOs. " – nadurthi Mar 12 '15 at 18:53
  • Forgot the hyphens: "...ground- and space-based sensors..." http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphen#Suspended_hyphens – Brian Hitchcock Mar 13 '15 at 02:39

1 Answers1

0

The point is that A global network is the subject of the verb and is singular. of ground and space based sensors...telescopes is a prepositional phrase. (The subject of a sentence is never inside a prepositional phrase. This particular prepositional phrase is functioning as a post-modifier to the word network.) I like the sentence better without the commas.

Grammar wonk
  • 94