Singular or plural.

These words are plural, so they take a plural verb:

• My trousers are too long, (not 'is too long')

You can also use a pair of + these words:

• Those are nice jeans, or That's a nice pair of jeans, (not 'a nice jeans')

• I need some new glasses, or I need a new pair of glasses.

B/ Some nouns end in -ics but are not usually plural. For example: 

athletics/ gymnastics/ mathematics (or maths)/ physics/ electronics/ economics/ politics

• Gymnastics is my favourite sport.

News is not plural.

• What time is the news on television? (not 'are the news')

Some words ending in -s can be singular or plural. For example:
means ==> a means of transport ==> many means of transport
series ==> a television series ==> two television series
species ==> a species of bird ==>  200 species of bird

C/ Some singular nouns are often used with a plural verb. For example:

government/ staff/ team/ family/ audience/ committee/ company/ firm

These nouns are all groups of people. We often think of them as a number of people (= 'they'), not as one thing (= 'it'). So we often use a plural verb:

• The government (= they) want to increase taxes.

• The staff at the school (= they) are not happy with their new working conditions.

In the same way, we often use a plural verb after the name of a sports team or a company:

• Scotland are playing France next week (in a football match).

• Shell have increased the price of petrol.

A singular verb (The government wants... / Shell has... etc.) is also possible.

We always use a plural verb with police:

• The police have arrested a friend of mine, (not 'The police has')

• Do you think the police are well-paid?

Note that a person in the police is 'a policeman / a policewoman / a police officer' (not 'a police').

D/ We do not often use the plural of person ('persons'). We normally use people (a plural word):

• He's a nice person,    but    They are nice people.

• Many people don't have enough to eat. (not 'doesn't have')

E/ We think of a sum of money, a period of time, a distance etc. as one thing. So we use a singular verb:

• Twenty thousand pounds (= it) was stolen in the robbery, (not 'were stolen')

• Three years (=it) is a long time to be without a job. (not 'Three years are...)

• Six miles is a long way to walk every day

Choose the correct form of the verb, singular or plural.

Intermediate
English exercise "Singular or plural." created by felin (15-04-2006) with The test builder
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1. Gymnastics 0areis my favourite sport.
2. The trousers you bought for me 0doesn'tdon't fit me.
3. The police 0wantswant to interview two men about the robbery last week
4. Physics was0were my best subject at school.
5. Can I borrow your scissors? Mine 0aren'tisn't sharp enough.
6. Fortunately the news weren't0wasn't as bad as we expected.
7. Three days 0isn'taren't long enough for a good holiday
8. I can't find my binoculars. Do you know where they are0it is ?
9. Do you think the people 0isare happy with the government ?
10. 0DoDoes the police know how the accident happened?
11. I don't like very hot weather. Thirty degrees are0is too warm for me.
12. Twenty thousand pounds werewas0 stolen in the robbery.
13. The staff at the school isn't0aren't happy with their new working conditions.
14. Scotland isare0 playing France next week (in a football match)