net_ perhaps.--THACKERAY.

VERBS.

CONCORD OF VERB AND SUBJECT IN NUMBER.

[Sidenote: _A broad and loose rule._]

439. In English, the number of the verb follows the meaning rather
than the form of its subject.

It will not do to state as a general rule that the verb agrees with
its subject in person and number. This was spoken of in Part I., Sec.
276, and the following illustrations prove it.

The statements and illustrations of course refer to such verbs as have
separate forms for singular and plural number.

[Sidenote: _Singular verb._]

440. The singular form of the verb is used--

[Sidenote: _Subject of singular form._]

(1) When the subject has a singular form and a singular meaning.

Such, then, _was_ the earliest American _land_.--AGASSIZ.

_He was_ certainly a happy fellow at this time.--G. ELIOT.

_He sees_ that it is better to live in peace.--COOPER.

[Sidenote: _Collective noun of singular meaning._]

(2) When the subject is a _collective noun_ which represents a number
of persons or things _taken as one unit_; as,--

The larger _breed_ [of camels] _is_ capable of transporting a
weight of a thousand pounds.--GIBBON.

Another _school professes_ entirely opposite principles.--_The
Nation._

In this work there _was_ grouped around him _a score_ of men.--W.
PHILLIPS

A _number_ of jeweled paternosters _was_ attached to her
girdle.--FROUDE.

_Something like a horse load_ of books _has_ been written to
prove that it was the beauty who blew up the booby.--CARLYLE

This usage, like some others in this series, depends mostly on the
writer's own judgment. Another writer might, for example, prefer a
plural verb after _number_ in Froude's sentence above.

[Sidenote: _Singulars connected by_ or _or_ nor.]

(3) When the subject consists of two or more singular nouns connected
by _or_ or _nor_; as,--

It is by no means sure that either our _literature_, or the great
intellectual _life_ of our nation, _has_ got already, without
academies, all that academies can give.--M. ARNOLD.

_Jesus is_ not dead, nor _John_, nor _Paul_, nor _Mahomet_.
--EMERSON.

[Sidenote: _Plural form and singular meaning._]

(4) When the subject is _plural in form_, but represents a number of
things to be taken together as _forming one unit_; for example,--

Thirty-four years _affects_ one's remembrance of some