[Grammar] is vs Are questions

[Daniellll]

Do we say :

- "Accounts receivable" is OR are increasing (since the name of the account in the financial statement is "Accounts receivable")
- Do we say "were is the rest of the students" OR were are the rest of the sudents

 

[Barb_D]

I'm honestly not sure about the accounts receivable question.

My instincts say plural, but I don't know if an accountant would agree.

For the other, it's "Where are the rest of the students?"

 

[billmcd]

Hi Barb,

Do you really think accountants or "bean counters" are necessarily authorities on grammar? I don't know if I am either, but I'm going to go with "accounts receivable are increasing". I see "receivable" as an adjective in the example, even though the phrase "accounts receivable" is a standard business/industry term and could be considered singular. For example, if the reference is to a department, then I would have to go with a singular verb as in "Accounts Receivable is increasing its staff because of the high volume of sales."

 

[Barb_D]

No, I don't think they are authorities on grammar, but I also know that within industries, there is jargon that is used differently than it is in mainstream prose.

If they think of "accounts receivable" as a line on the financial statements and therefore as a quantity, it may be that they use it in the singular.