The number of electors were/was?

Question

please help me in understanding this doubt. My brain says 'were' but some stupid online rule says was'

you're right. it's 'was' – Archie Azares Dec 06 '17 at 06:37 — Archie Azares, Dec 06 '17 at 06:37
Can you give the entire sentence for context? – herisson Dec 07 '17 at 15:20 — herisson, Dec 07 '17 at 15:20

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 06 '17 at 07:22

You want to know the number of electors. What was the number?

What's confusing you, is that the plural word electors comes immediately before the verb. It can be difficult to match was with the number a) because of the distance between the words and b) because of the aforesaid intervening plural word.

So, the correct start to that sentence is:

The number of electors was [large, high, etc.]

since you would also say:

The number was [large, high, etc.]

but saying:

The electors were [large, high, etc.]

completely changes the meaning, because of the change of subject and not because of the different verb conjugation.

You can work out the rule for yourself by simplifying the phrase until the answer becomes clear.

The number of electors were/was?

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