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Which one is correct?

Two thirds of the crop is destroyed.

or:

Two thirds of the crop are destroyed.

KillingTime
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Istiak Ahmed
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    *Half the sheep are dead* (half of the number of multiple sheep). Somewhat less likely, *Half the sheep is dead* (one sheep, half of whose body is necrotised?). – FumbleFingers Jan 18 '23 at 17:05
  • @FumbleFingers - But (countable) sheep are different, surely? Is it "(a portion of the crop equal to 2/3) is" or "Two (portions equal to 1/3) are"? I think I'd go for the latter. – Kate Bunting Jan 18 '23 at 17:10
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    Arguably this should have beenn migrated to English Language Learners. But see this NGram showing that it's virtually always *Half the crop is destroyed, not ...are destroyed. Don't be distracted by the fact that it's two thirds* - it's still *A fraction*. – FumbleFingers Jan 18 '23 at 17:13
  • @KateBunting: Plural makes more sense with, say, Two-thirds of the herd* are infected. But for nearly all possible referents, there's at least the possibility* of using the "less-favoured plurailty". My tongue-in-cheek sheep example was supposed to show that there are at least some contexts where one plurailty would be extremely unusual! :) – FumbleFingers Jan 18 '23 at 17:17
  • As I understand it, Brits happily switch between *couple is* and *couple are* depending on whether we're thinking of the couple "collectively" or as two people, and we do the same with a *herd* (not so much with a *crop, though). But maybe Americans are more wedded to two-thirds is*, same as with couples. – FumbleFingers Jan 18 '23 at 17:23

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