Number

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bb_girl

I chose "is" because the number is rising, not the students :D
So it's definitely is:-D

---

:up:

Hi

The number of students is rising :
the number is the subject of the sentence and hence the verb is in the singular too.
students here is an attribute and as Xpert said is a matter of subject - verb agreement.

A number of students are rising:

A number of - attribute

students -is the subject of the sentence and, as a consequence, the verb should be in the plural too

Teia

'Is' is correct in the above example because when we precede number by ‘The’ it denotes a unit and is SINGULAR. When It’s preceded by ‘a’ it means ‘several’ or ‘many’ and is ‘PLURAL’
for example:
A number of pupils are absent today.(not A number of pupils is absent today.)
The number of pupils is increasing.(not The number of pupils are increasing.)

It is ONE ENTITY of things, people. IS is logical like in other languages.

People tend to apply the LAW OF PROXIMITY, the closest noun in plural, verb in plural

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dodgerfan2002

the number = singular
a number = plural

---

Only when I saw your explanation did I notice the difference.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tdol

;-)

---

The correct answer is "is" because the subject of the sentence is a singular subject and since it is directly related to the verb, the verb must be in its singular form as well.