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“The contents are” or “the contents is”

Which is correct?

  • The contents of the cereal box is distributed among the children.
  • The contents of the cereal box are distributed among the children.

"The contents ... are" definitely sounds better, but isn't the word contents in this sense singular? Maybe "the contents ... is" is correct, despite the fact that it totally doesn't sound like it is.

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  • contents is the plural of content.
    – Kris
    Commented May 3, 2012 at 14:01
  • The sentence is correct.
    – Kris
    Commented May 3, 2012 at 14:02
  • It should be "The contents are ...".
    – Kris
    Commented May 3, 2012 at 14:07
  • 1
    I'd use are, but can't you just say, "The cereal is distributed..." instead?
    – JLG
    Commented May 3, 2012 at 14:07
  • 1
    @Kris, in a cereal box?
    – JLG
    Commented May 3, 2012 at 14:19

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Your confusion is understandable as your construction, "The contents", raises a semantic question:

Does a cereal box have "content" (the cereal), or "contents" (the grains of cereal)? I don't think that either of these is definitively right or wrong, but it changes how you write your sentence:

If the cereal box has "contents" (grains of cereal), then:

The contents of the cereal box are distributed among the children.

If the cereal box has "content" (cereal), then:

The content of the cereal box is distributed among the children.

In my opinion the second phrasing makes more sense, but that's just an opinion.

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    Why do you say that 'the' sounds like the possibility of a singular noun?
    – Barrie England
    Commented May 3, 2012 at 14:30
  • I guess all I mean is, it seems to me that people frequently second guess themselves when they write something like the (plural noun) are, and it seems the article is making them second guess whether they should say the (plural noun) is, instead of the (plural noun) are as the asker indicated.
    – Andrew
    Commented May 3, 2012 at 18:26
  • I've re-written the answer to be more clear.
    – Andrew
    Commented May 3, 2012 at 18:32

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