I'm trying to make sure my writing is correct for the following sentence:
The list of functionality has/have to be implemented
But I'm confused about has or have there.
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possible duplicate of A number of questions "has been" or "have been" asked?– RonanApr 1, 2014 at 13:14
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2Because unicorns.– tchrist ♦Apr 1, 2014 at 13:15
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1@tchrist: Is there some point to all your recent unicorn comments? It's passing me by.– FumbleFingersApr 1, 2014 at 13:20
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2@FumbleFingers I bought the “Only valid close reason is ‘𝕭𝖊𝖈𝖆𝖚𝖘𝖊 𝖚𝖓𝖎𝖈𝖔𝖗𝖓𝖘’ ” options with my Unicoins, so that’s all I can closevote with now.– tchrist ♦Apr 1, 2014 at 13:22
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@tchrist: oic. I've been away for a while, so I dint know about unicoins. Not that I can see the rationale behind offering that "special power" in the first place. I just grabbed myself a "halve everyone else's reputation" before it dawned on me my anarchistic tendency would presumably only be visible to me personally. The struggle against the existing "ruling class" will not be won so easily, I feel.– FumbleFingersApr 1, 2014 at 15:32
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2 Answers
The subject of your sentence, "list," is singular, so your verb should agree with the subject and should be singular, or "has." Confusion may come from your awareness that there are many items on the list. In British English, I have noticed the use of a plural verb with a subject that appears singular but connotes many, e.g., "The company have moved to address this problem...." implying that not one, but many people are involved in the action. In America, this would always be "The company has moved...." In your question, the list does not appear to connote many individual items as your meaning is that the entire list (of items) requires implementation. Your sentence could be clearer in that the term "of functionality" is out of context [functionality of what?], but that would not change my answer.
You need to use has as it is one list not many.
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