Would it be A or B?
A.) A wide variety of classes was added.
B.) A wide variety of classes were added.
Asked
Active
Viewed 353 times
1 Answers
-1
"were added." is correct.
"A wide variety" is plural, hence the use of "were" in this case.
Other examples:
- A carrot was added to the soup. (the word "carrot" is singular)
- Carrots were added to the soup. (the word "carrots" is plural)
- A pinch of salt was added to the soup. (the phrase "a pinch of salt" is singular)
- A variety of vegetables were added to the soup. (the phrase "A variety of vegetables" is plural)
- Varieties of vegetables were added to the soup. (the phrase "Varieties of vegetables" is plural)
Note that I use "is" in the sentence "the word 'carrots' is plural" since I am referring to "a word" in this case and "a word" is singular.
Baz
- 644
-
Why is *a* [single] variety not singular? – Andrew Leach Aug 27 '15 at 11:28
-
Lets say I had two bowls, one with green vegtables and one with non-green vegtables. I add the single bowl to the soup and say "I am adding a variety of vegs to the soup". But if I add the two bowls at once, I might say "I am adding varieties of vegs to the soup". So there are two plurals (varieties and vegetables) in the second sentence. The first sentence though has one singular (a variety) and one plural (vegtables ... were). – Baz Aug 27 '15 at 11:39
-
"I have some vegetables. I am adding a variety to the soup." ⇒ "There were some vegetables. A variety was added to the soup." ⇒ "A variety of vegetables was added to the soup." *One* variety is singular, surely. – Andrew Leach Aug 27 '15 at 11:43