subject-verb agreement

[haseli123]

Hi there,
In a book I saw some explanations on subject-verb agreement. There were two strange sentences that I didn't understand well. Here are the sentences:
1. Some of the book is good.
2. A lot of the equipment is new.

Can we use a singular noun after "some" and "a lot of"? If yes, when and what will be the meaning of the sentence?
Thanks

[svartnik]

1. Some of the books is are good.
2. A lot of the equipment is new. -- equipment is an uncountable noun --> singular verb

[PROESL]

Hi there,
In a book I saw some explanations on subject-verb agreement. There were two strange sentences that I didn't understand well. Here are the sentences:
1. Some of the book is good.
2. A lot of the equipment is new.

Can we use a singular noun after "some" and "a lot of"? If yes, when and what will be the meaning of the sentence?
Thanks

Can we use a singular noun after "some" and "a lot of"? If yes, when and what will be the meaning of the sentence?

Yes.

1. Some of the book is good. - This means that only part of the book is good and that the rest is not good. This sentence is correct.

If you say "Some of the books are good", this means you are talking about more than one book, of course. However, it is correct to say "Some of the book is good", meaning only parts of the book are good, not the whole book.


2. A lot of the equipment is new. - This means that not all of the equipment is new, but much of it is.