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It makes sense to say, "My working hours are from 9 am to 6 pm."

But is it right to say, "My working hours is from 9 am to 6 pm."

My argument is that from 9 am to 6 pm can be treated as a singular subject, as is "butter and bread".

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  • The subject is my working hours.
    – user28567
    May 5, 2014 at 5:38

3 Answers 3

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Since you say 'my working hours', you are referring to each hour in which you work. The fact that they happen to come one after another and form a single stretch of time doesn't necessarily matter grammatically.

You could, for example, say 'my working hours are 9-10 o'clock on Monday, 11-12 o'clock on Tuesday, 9-10 o'clock on Wednesday...' etc and saying 'my working hours' would still be correct because there are multiple hours there, despite they're coming only one at a time.

Were you to use 'is', you would have to say something like 'my shift is from 9-6pm', as the word 'shift' bundles all those working hours into a singular entity, whereas 'working hours' remains plural.

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Since you use hours you need 'are' .. You may say: my working time is from 9 am to 6 pm.

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  • I agree. And of course, Louis, "My workday lasts from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m." also needs a singular verb...
    – Erik Kowal
    May 5, 2014 at 3:04
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My shift is from 9 to 6

But shift is a noun in that sentence.

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