form water. A Phrase of the form The+Adjective is plural. - The rich plan for tomorrow, the poor for today. Some words appear singular but are plural: police, cattle, etc. - Where the cattle stand together, the lion lies down hungry. When the word enemy is used in the sense of armed forces another nation a plural verb is used. Singular or Plural When subjects are joined by or, nor, not only...but also, etc. the verb agrees with the nearer subject. (Rule of Proximity) - Success or failure depends on individuals. - Neither I nor you are to blame. - Either you or he has to go. (But at times, it is considered better to reword such grammatically correct but awkward sentences.) Objects with two parts such as dresses like trousers, pants, gloves, breeches, jeans, tights, shorts, pajamas, drawers, etc. and instruments like scissors, tweezers, shears, binoculars, tongs, glasses, specs, bellows, pincers, etc. take a plural verb when used in the crude form and are singular when used with a pair of. A collective noun is singular when thought of as a unit and plural when the individuals are considered. - The jury has arrived at an unanimous decision. - The committee are divided in their opinion. - His family is quite large. - His family have given him full support in his times of grief. - There's a huge audience in the gallery today. - The audience are requested to take their seats. Exceptions: British English, however, tends to treat team and company names as plural. - India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in a pulsating final to deliver World Cup glory to their cricket-mad population for the first time since 1983. (BBC) - India wins cricket World Cup for 1st time in 28 years. (Washington Post) Phrases like more than one, majority of are singular or plural based on the noun it modifies. - There's more than one way to skin a cat. Pains and means can be singular or plural but the construction must be consistent. In the sense of wealth, means always takes a plural verb. Barracks, headquarters, whereabouts, and aims can take a singular verb, as well as the plural verb. Latin Compared with English, Latin is an example of a highly inflected language. The consequences for agreement are thus: Verbs must agree in person and number, and sometimes in gender, with their subjects.