In this sentence:
The insurance premium is small potatoes compared to what we'd have to pay if the house burned down.
"Small potatoes" is a plural noun, but why is the auxiliary verb "is" not "are"?
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Mari-Lou A
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Sally
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If we make 'premium' plural, then we need 'are'.
The insurance premiums are small potatoes compared to what we'd have to pay if the house burned down.
Also we could change things further, e.g.
The insurance premiums are an annoyance compared to what we'd have to pay if the house burned down.
Where there is a discrepancy we decide which is the main subject and make the verb fit that. In your example'small potatoes' describes 'premium' so the latter is the subject of the verb 'to be'.
chasly - supports Monica
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@EdwinAshworth Mari-Lou found an appropriate dupe. Needs 3 more close votes. Chasly, I know it's the heady honeymoon period for you with ELU and it's super fun to watch your reputation score shoot skyward, but please do try to rein in the enthusiasm when it comes to likely-to-be-closed (read: obvious-to-a-native-speaker) questions. – Dan Bron Aug 29 '15 at 10:12
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Okay. I tend to glance at the 'RELATED' box to see if there are duplicates. I didn't spot any so I went ahead. In future I'll spend more time searching. – chasly - supports Monica Aug 29 '15 at 10:31