In addition to the fictitious concordance, here is a second principle in the game that sounds the use of a plural verb more “correct” than the singular verb, and this is called the principle of proximity. This means, for example, that in a construction like “many Revelers”, one might be more inclined to choose a form of verb that corresponds to the plural noun, which is closer to the phrase of the verb (Revelers) than the noun further from the singular (Crowd): no one takes a singular verb when it refers to the sing and plural if its reference rate is plural. I would have liked to have thought about that. This is a great illustration of an interesting feature in the English language. But in fact, this example is plundered from a rather excellent piece recently published online by the people of Merriam-Webster. The subject: the fictitious agreement. The fictitious chord is a natural function of language, something we did, who knows how long, but until recently did not notice. Paul Roberts wrote about it in 1954 in Understanding Grammar, and other utility commentators have since written about it, including corypheus Bryan Garner. Still other commentators have advised to follow fictitious agreements in some cases, without saying, perhaps without acknowledging it, that`s what they did.
“A lot of cars on the roads mean a lot of road accidents.” Behind the plural expression, there seems to be a singular concept that explains the choice of the form-s of the verb. It refers to a fact of circumstance and the importance of plural expression can therefore be covered by the paraphrase “The fact that there/are X”. “The phrases “facts” in the plural are particularly common in sentences where the preacher is average (or include related verbs like these), but we also find it in sentences with other verbs: “High production costs prevent reasonable prices for the consumer.” (Carl Bache, Essentials OF Mastering English: A Concise Grammar. Walter de Gruyter, 2000) The number takes a singular verb, and a number takes a plural verb. It`s just an old contract. Nothing fictitious about it. But sometimes things aren`t that simple. In these cases, we rely on meaning – the term behind words – and we base our grammar on that.