[Grammar] buy or buys

[adjustment]

Hello there,

I am stumped. I can't figure out which tense of BUY to use. Here is my sentence:

Our team of experts (buy or buys) directly from the source.

Thanks for your help!
Adj

 

[emsr2d2]

You will hear both. It depends on whether the speaker emphasises "Our team" (singular, in which case, it would be followed by "buys") or if they feel that the emphasis is on "experts" (in which case, it would be followed by "buy").

 

[GoesStation]

I would only use buys because I hear the subject as "team". However, American usage increasingly favors buy in this kind of sentence. Indeed, the general rule nowadays is that the verb agrees in number with the nearest preceding noun. Hearing this rule applied frequently makes me cringe, but there's little I can do about it.