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I'm writing an essay in english and unfortunately english isn't my first language. I'm worried about the following two possibilities:

A: Different scattering potentials lead to different cross sections scaling.

B: Different scattering potentials leads to different cross sections scaling.

I did wonder weather A or B is correct. Is it "leads" or "lead" in this case?

I would personality prefer B. It sounds better to me than A but when I think about grammar it may be A: I have more than one potential, so it's plural and it isn't "He, she or it". Please correct me and explain the thing to me. I always have problems in such constructions. A general explanation would be really nice for this things.

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    As I read your example, I understand that each time you vary the potential you get a different scaling. If that's right, then the collective potentials act separately, and you're talking about a collective in a plural sense. Thus you want a plural verb, which is lead. If I'm wrong, and the collection of scattering potentials acts together as a body, then they may be considered together as a unified phenomenon, in which case that single phenomenon would take a singular verb, which is leads.
    – deadrat
    Commented Apr 4, 2016 at 7:52
  • First thing is right. I use different potentials in my simulation this leads to different cross sections. I have to use "lead" in this case. I do not know, why on earth I always want to use "leads" although it's wrong. Many thanks for the help!
    – Mike1993
    Commented Apr 4, 2016 at 8:05
  • I think the inclination to incorrectly use the singular (leads) might be due to the word different, which isn't obviously plural. Try replacing "different" with "these", "some" or "many", and the singular verb form suddenly sounds very wrong.
    – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten
    Commented Apr 4, 2016 at 8:48
  • @deadrat I've not voted to close as a duplicate, as this question is subtly different from other examples involving notional agreement. But I appreciate your confining the correct response to a 'comment'.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Apr 4, 2016 at 9:47
  • @EdwinAshworth I'm not sure I'm sufficiently clever to see the subtlety. In any event, it's attracted some misleading answers, which you've valiantly tried to correct in the comments. At this point, I think a mercy closing as a duplicate is in order.
    – deadrat
    Commented Apr 4, 2016 at 9:57

2 Answers 2

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You would use "leads" when the subject is singular and "lead" when the subject is plural. Like in these sentences:

"This road leads to Rome."

"These roads lead to Rome."

So in your case, if there was one scattering potential you might say something like this:

"The scattering potential leads to ..."

and if there is more than one scattering potential being discussed you would say

"Different scattering potentials lead to ..."

On the face of it your sentence doesn't appear to be grammatically correct ("different cross sections scaling." seems wrong), but without more context it's hard to be sure. Perhaps you mean "different scaling of cross sections"?

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  • Good to see the grammatical error at the end of the sentence picked up too! An alternative would be to convert "cross sections" into adjectival form to describe the scaling, i.e. "different cross-section scaling".
    – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten
    Commented Apr 4, 2016 at 8:51
  • So 'bacon and eggs are my favourite meal'? With a coordinated subject corresponding to a notionally unitary referent, singular coordination (using 'logical/notional agreement') is not incorrect. But this has been covered on ELU before. This may be extended to non-coordinated plural subjects whose referent is considered a single entity (the United States is a true world power), as deadrat says. / That being said, I agree with deadrat that plural agreement seems the more sensible 'logical choice' here.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Apr 4, 2016 at 9:25
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Just looking at what the subject is, "potentials lead" would have to be right. Do you want "leads" because you're thinking of "scattering" as your sentence's subject? Do you want to say, "different scattering of potentials leads to ..."? I don't think so. I think "scattering potentials" is the subject and "lead" the predicate. Also, it seems "cross-section scaling" would be correct and would mean the same as "scaling of cross sections." (Was it a typo in your last sentence ending with "this things" instead of "this thing" or "these things"? If not, then I think you may be suffering from a desire to use or repeat a final "s" more often than English allows.)

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  • But just looking at what the subject is, The United States are a superpower would have to be right. However, this usage has been largely superseded; even AmE makes use of notional agreement. Thirty dollars is lot to spend on a burger.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Apr 4, 2016 at 9:39

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