[stylist] Grammar question

[Marion Gwizdala]

    In the sentence you present, the subject is "three". The word "three" is 
a plural noun, so the correct form of the verb would be the plural form of 
"to be" which is "are. Now, if you were to write, "My family, only the three 
of us, is going on vacation." the subject, "family", is a singular 
collective noun and "only the three of us" is an independent clause, so the 
singular form of the verb would be used.

Fraternally yours,
Marion Gwizdala



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "The Crowd" <the_crowd at cox.net>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 1:19 PM
Subject: [stylist] Grammar question


> Which is correct:
>
> There is only three of us.
>
> Or
>
> There are only three of us.
>
> Thanks,
> Atty
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