I agree with 2006 though I have still some confusion about use of singular or plural verb with the word “
couple”. I understand the use this way:- The word simply means: two as an unit when used to refer to two people who function socially as a unit, as in
a married couple, so the word
couple may take either a singular or a plural verb, depending on whether the members are considered individually or collectively as:
The couple were married last week. (treated as two individuals)
Every body has left but one couple is still on the dance floor (treated as single unit)
.
I think there is no dispute on this but the controversy is with reference use of the word in the form of a phrase
a couple of which means:
A few; several or
some; not many (literally more than one). Basically it refers to inexactness, suggesting that the user of this phrase is indifferent to the precise number of items involved but which is certainly more than one. So it needs
always a plural verb when used as subject or a referent to a pronoun acting as subject. See the examples some collected from web other from dictionary..
Here
are a couple of good
ideas to set the house in order. (from web site)
Well, there
are a couple of ideas running around already, (do)
A couple of months are necessary to complete the work.
A couple of boys have enjoyed the best week ever (from web)