classroom lessons is or are?

[Daruma]

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CiNii- Induction Motor Modelling Using Multi-Layer Perceptrons (Special Section on Neural Nets, Chaos and Numerics)
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A singular noun can come behind the word "are," can't it?

[2006]

I agree, 'are' is correct. I don't see how one can assume an absent 'taking' before 'classroom lessons'.

I don't have any objection to using "are" in that sentence. But the OP was asking if and how "is" could be correct. So I indicated how "is" can be correct.
it seems clear to me that the meaning of the sentence is about taking classroom lessons.

[solnadya]

Dear friends, thank you very much for your quick and concerned replies - i appreciate you help a lot! thank you once again

[solnadya]

Dear Svartnik, when you say - 'There is a notional concord between the verb 'is' and classroom lessons as an effective way to acquire good knowledge of the world.' - do you agree with me that 'is' is correct here? Can you tell me about any grammar book where I can read more on this subject?

[konungursvia]

[quote=bhaisahab;483955]

Correct: I think that classroom lessons are a more effective way to acquire good knowledge of the world.
Incorrect: I think that classroom lessons is a more effective way to acquire good knowledge of the world.


I agree, 'are' is correct. I don't see how one can assume an absent 'taking' before 'classroom lessons'.

I agree also. Are is correct. Is is totally wrong, if the gerund 'taking' is not present, you do not attempt to accord the verb with it. In your example, the word "lessons" is the subject, which is plural, and MUST take "are" as its verb.

All the other posters are following a twisted logic: assuming another word could be present, and attempting an accord with an absent word. Wrong.

[jctgf]

Dear Svartnik, when you say - 'There is a notional concord between the verb 'is' and classroom lessons as an effective way to acquire good knowledge of the world.' - do you agree with me that 'is' is correct here? Can you tell me about any grammar book where I can read more on this subject?

Once you determine the subject, it's easy to say what the verb tense is, I think.

Assumed that the subject is "lessons", the tense could only be "are" (opinion).

"classroom lessons are funny."
"classroom lessons are very necessary for a better understanding"
"Mrs. Brown's classroom lessons are horrible".

Just a student.

[svartnik]

I think that classroom lessons are a more effective way to acquire good knowledge of the world. -- grammatical concord

I think that classroom lessons is a more effective way to acquire good knowledge of the world. -- notional concord

What is the referent of 'classroom lessons'? What does 'classroom lessons' mean in the sentence? Does it mean several lessons? Not in my opinion.
It refers to an effective method, where the visiting of lessons (=effective method) is being subtly implied. And that method is what the verb agrees with in number in the second sentence.

The concepts of subject-verb agreement in the English language are very similar to those in my mother tongue.
In Hungarian, I would frown at the speaker's choice of plural, though.

[Daruma]

svartnik,

Could I ask you to write some other sentences of "Subject [plural noun] + Verb [singular verb such as is and was]"?

[svartnik]

Of course, 80000000 books is an aggregate quite too vast to be comprehended even with the assistance of the most vivid of imaginations.

[Daruma]

SV,

At last, I got what you were talking about.

Five minutes is enough to finish this job.
Something like this, right?