Alright, so my friend and I are having a little friendly bet over the use of which word, "was" or "were", in the following context. The teacher is stumped as well, so I came to you. If I were to say:
"There [was / were] a large number of people at the event," which would it be? I know "people" is plural so if the sentence was, "There were a number of people at the event," that would be correct. However the "large number" throws us off, because while "number" can be both plural and singular, doesn't the fact that "large" precedes it makes it plural? (in essence, a large number is a number greater than one) Would this not make it "were"?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
"There [was / were] a large number of people at the event," which would it be? I know "people" is plural so if the sentence was, "There were a number of people at the event," that would be correct. However the "large number" throws us off, because while "number" can be both plural and singular, doesn't the fact that "large" precedes it makes it plural? (in essence, a large number is a number greater than one) Would this not make it "were"?
Any help is greatly appreciated.