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In a Euronews headline I saw the following:

Frontex: What would happen if the EU border agency quit Greece?.

Shouldn't it be "quits Greece"? As far as I understood EU border agency is singular.

Reopen note:

Although the original close vote as a duplicate was accepted, Stuart F has since pointed out that the real issue here is that quit is probably past tense. I agree. The 'duplicate'tag here might wrongly lead readers to assume that the issue here is simply about singular/plural subjects.

Araucaria - Him
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Michael
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    Alternatively, it might be singular because "he/she/it quit" is a past tense of "quit" (although "he/she/it quitted" is also found). But the question seems to assume it's present tense and be asking whether organizations take singular or plural, which is much discussed here. – Stuart F Jun 29 '23 at 08:46
  • @StuartF yes, it answers the question, thank you – Michael Jun 29 '23 at 08:47
  • Americans are probably more likely to think only the singular verb form (quits) should be used. Most Brits (who are quite happy with the government is...** OR the government are...*) wouldn't notice or care whether the EU border agency* was treated as singular or plural. – FumbleFingers Jun 29 '23 at 15:37
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    The reopen request is pointless. The OP was obviously asking about singular or plural, so the duplicate *is* valid. But even if the OP changes / changed* his mind* and makes / made it a question about whether *quit* is / was Present or Past tense, *it would still be a duplicate!* Of a different question that I haven't bothered to identify yet, but I'm quite certain we'll have had several questions about whether to use Present or Past for a hypothetical, and it just so happens *quit* is the same form for both. But I won't be allowed to re-vote to close again! – FumbleFingers Jun 29 '23 at 15:44
  • @FumbleFingers Yes, the answer in a comment from SF was a challenge frame. But be that as it may, this question needs both points making because of the fact that both apply. So you need to do the donkey work and find the proper dupe! The point of duping is to take the reader to the right page, not the wrong one. What's the point in that? – Araucaria - Him Jun 29 '23 at 21:42
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    @Araucaria-Nothereanymore.: The first IF + Present / Past pair that came to mind was "If I do" "If I did", so I put them in to a Google site-specific search (the built-in SO search facility doesn't work very well, imho). Anyway, that search found a question, but I don't think much of the answer, so I'll try to think of some more generic search terms for the built-in. About the only good thing about the built-in is it can sort any results by "Votes" to find the most popular one. There'll be loads, I'm sure. – FumbleFingers Jun 30 '23 at 00:41
  • Question addressed (IMO answered) at Correct use of will & would? (treehead's answer) – Edwin Ashworth Jun 30 '23 at 15:08

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"Quit" isn't a present tense verb. It's a past-tense verb in the protasis of a "remote" (or "counterfactual") conditional. The question has the same basic syntax as:

If the EU border agency quit Greece, x would happen.

Compare this to the past tense "had" in:

If you had a trash can, I would tip it over.

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