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 Measles is a dangerous disease for pregnant women.
On the other hand, some words ending in -s refer to a single thing but are nonetheless
plural and require a plural verb.
 My assets were wiped out in the depression.
 The average worker's earnings have gone up dramatically.
 Our thanks go to the workers who supported the union.
The names of sports teams that do not end in "s" will take a plural verb: the Miami
Heat have been looking … , The Connecticut Sun are hoping that new talent … . See the
section on plurals for help with this problem.

Fractional expressions such as half of, a part of, a percentage of, a majority of are
sometimes singular and sometimes plural, depending on the meaning. (The same
is true, of course, when all, any, more, most and some act as subjects.) Sums and
products of mathematical processes are expressed as singular and require
singular verbs. The expression "more than one" (oddly enough) takes a singular verb: "More
than one student has tried this."

 Some of the voters are still angry.
 A large percentage of the older population is voting against her.
 Two-fifths of the troops were lost in the battle.
 Two-fifths of the vineyard was destroyed by fire.
 Forty percent of the students are in favor of changing the policy.
 Forty percent of the student body is in favor of changing the policy.
 Two and two is four.
 Four times four divided by two is eight.

If your sentence compounds a positive and a negative subject and one is plural,
the other singular, the verb should agree with the positive subject.
The department members but not the chair have decided not to teach on
Valentine's Day.
 It is not the faculty members but the president who decides this issue.
 It was the speaker, not his ideas, that has provoked the students to riot.
LETS RECAP: Subject–Verb Agreement Rules

Key: subject = yellow, bold; verb = green, underline

Subjects and verbs must agree in number.

1. If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular too.
Example: She writes every day.

2. If the subject is plural, the verb must also be plural.
Example: They write every day.
Sometimes, however, it seems a bit more complicated than this.
3. When the subject of the sentence is composed of two or more nouns or pronouns
connected by and, use a plural verb.
Example: The doctoral student and the committee members write every day.