The predicate must be in the same form as the subject, so that it does not work out:

The children are grateful to the chefs for the gift.

Children are a singular noun, therefore grateful, but children are grateful.

With a subject that includes words multitude, number, part, majority, minority and a controlled noun in the genitive case (such as most students, a number of schools), the predicate can be both in the plural and in the singular.

Singular is used if
- noun means inanimate objects (row of tables...);
- no emphasis on activity actors ( most students were absent).

The plural is used for underlining activity actions of persons Some of the students passed the exams).

With a subject expressed by a quantitative-nominal combination ( seven o'clock, several people...), the predicate can be singular or plural.

form plural highlights activity actors: And thirty beautiful knights / / A series of clear waters emerge(A.S. Pushkin).

Form singular predicate is used:

When underlined passivity actors: Twenty people stood aside;

If the noun that is part of the subject means inanimate object or animal: A hundred years have passed - and what is left// From these strong, proud men,// So full of passions?(A.S. Pushkin);

At compound number ending in one (Thirty-three heroes - go out, and thirty-one heroes - go out).

The predicate is placed in the only number, if the subject includes words many, few, few, only, only: Many students have already visited this exhibition.

The predicate with a subject of the type brother and sister can also be placed in singular, and into the plural. plural number underlines equity, activity actors: And the weaver with the cook,// With the matchmaker Babarikha// They want to kill her(A.S. Pushkin).

The only thing number indicates that one actor - The main thing: An old man lived with his old woman(A.S. Pushkin).

The subject may have an application, but this does not affect the agreement. The predicate agrees with the defined word: At the last competitions, the car "Zhiguli" came first. But: "Zhiguli" came first(here "Zhiguli" is no longer an application); School principal Frolova left for a meeting.

The difficulty is the coordination of the predicate with several subjects.

At direct order words the predicate is put in the form plural numbers, at reverse the predicate is consistent with the nearest one to be.

Compare: Her fate, her end// By impenetrable darkness// They are closed from us. And Died and feeder and swimmer(A.S. Pushkin).

Myth. Many people think that "most ... decided" is written when it comes to people, and "most ... decided" - in all other cases. Actually it is not.

It’s just that there are two types of agreement: one is semantically (“most” means many, and therefore you need to say “decided”), and the other is grammatical (“majority” is a neuter noun, and therefore you need to choose a verb in the form singular).

1. If there are no other words in the construction with the word "majority", then everything is simple. “The State Duma adopted a law banning propaganda of homosexuality. Most have decided...- between the words "majority" and "decided" there are no explanatory words, so we choose a single number: decidedO.

2. If there are explanatory words, then both options are possible: and "the majority of the deputies decided" and "the majority of the deputies decided". It all depends on whether you want to emphasize the active role of everyone (decided) or, on the contrary, a single impulse (decided). The same applies to the word "many": “In the yard, a lot of people dined, sitting without hats near the fraternal cauldron”. (Pushkin.)

3. But there are some occasions when it is better to choose plural. Hints help you make the right choice.

Hint first. Subject and predicate are separated from each other.

Example: “Most Facebook users who spend more than three hours a day on social media love to post cats.”(The verb "love" is in the plural, because there are several words between it and the word "most" - even a whole subordinate clause).

Hint two . The sentence contains a subordinate construction, as in the previous example, or a participial phrase.

Examples: “Most of the protesters, among whom were schoolchildren, students and pensioners, ended up in paddy wagons”. Or: “Most Russians who wrote a total dictation made a mistake in the word “vinaigrette”.

Hint three. The sentence contains several homogeneous predicates or, with the subject, there are several controlled words.

Examples : “Most dictators were loveless, mistreated their neighbors and ended badly”(the plural is chosen because there are several homogeneous predicates).

"Most of the world's show business stars, public figures, politicians called for the release of members of Pussy Riot "(several controlled words at once, enumeration, therefore plural).

But the main thing to remember is that the choice in the end is still yours. It all depends on your language sense, the context and the meaning that you want to put into the statement.

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Several people collected ABOUT sya (or collected AND ss?) to meet ...

In russian language subject can be expressed quantitative combination, that is, a combination of a noun

a) with a quantitative numeral ( three girlfriends, two friends);

b) with a collective noun ( most students, many pictures);

c) with a noun line, part (a number of questions, part of the audience);

d) with words many, few, few, many, several (few people, many people).

The question arises: in the singular or in the plural in these cases it is necessary use predicate? It turns out that you can do it this way: both forms predicates are correct in modern Russian. However, there are options their use depending on the speech situation.

1. The predicate is used in the plural if

We want to emphasize the speed, activity of action. The subject in this case denotes people or animals. ( Several people threw And help. three hounds And sit across.);

The subject is expressed by a quantitative combination with words line, part, but it is clear from the context that actors a lot of . (Some 11th grade students, namely Petrov, Ivanov, Sidorov and others, are not ready s to the exam. Compare : Part of the students is not ready A to the exam. Here it does not follow from the context that there are many such students. .).

2. The predicate is used in the singular if

The sentence refers to inanimate objects. Usually such sentences belong to the scientific and official business styles of speech. ( The message was O given O many (many, few, many) interesting facts and numbers.);

The subject is a combination of the type a number of scientists, some students, then the predicate is consistent with the words line, part. (A number of scientists l about his disagreement with the position of the Academy. Some of the students decided A do not take the exam in biology.);

The subject is expressed by a collective noun of type youth, students, people, teachers and others. Here it is permissible only word form agreement. (The student body responded O join the call to help orphanages.).

3. The predicate is used both in the singular and in the plural, if

The subject is expressed by a collective noun majority, minority. Compare: Majority agreed And (meaning agreement). Majority agreed O with the requirements of the administration(agreement in the form of the word).

Thus, since our example, placed in the title, does not fit any of the listed cases, we can say Several people collected And to meet, And Several people collected O to meet.

The norm of the Russian language is grammatical agreement defined word with the main word in the phrase ( great luck, great success) and a predicate with a subject ( Mother said; father said). But in some cases, the choice of a dependent form causes difficulties and requires taking into account a number of conditions.

1. In colloquial speech, the use of semantic (rather than grammatical) agreement is often used with masculine nouns that characterize females.

The doctor came; The professor said; The principal of the school quit.

However, in official speech, the replacement of grammatical agreement with semantic one is not allowed, except in cases where such a noun carries a proper name, for example: doctor Petrova. In such constructions, the definition and the predicate agree with the nearest noun.

For example: Experienced doctor Petrova is attentive to patients. A participle definition always agrees with a proper name: doctor Petrova entered the ward.

2. The agreement of definitions with nouns depending on the numerals two, three, four, obeys the following rules.

With masculine and neuter nouns, definitions are used in the form of the genitive plural (the noun in this case is in the form of the genitive case) - two large tables, two large windows.

With nouns female the definition is put in the form of the nominative plural (the noun in this case is also in the form of the nominative plural) - two large vases.

If a feminine noun is in the genitive singular, then the definition can be put in the genitive, but plural ( two high mountains).

A definition before a numeral or a separate definition is placed in nominative case regardless of the gender of the noun:

large two tables; two oil paintings, hung on the wall; Two letters written by brother, alarmed me.

Exception make up adjectives whole, full, good, which usually stand in the genitive case and before the numeral ( two whole weeks, three full months), although in live speech the use of the nominative case form is very common.

3. Agreement of the predicate with the subject, expressed noun with a collective quantitative meaning ( majority, part, number etc.) is determined by the following factors.

If the noun does not have controlled words with it or the controlled word is in the singular, then the predicate is used in the singular:

The majority supported the speaker; Most of the team supported the coach.

If the controlled word is in the plural, then the predicate, as a rule, agrees with the collective noun and is put in the singular:

Most of the employees supported the director.

note to the fact that the predicate agrees in gender with the noun in the nominative case!

Wed: The majority of deputies supported the decision; Some deputies supported the decision; A number of deputies supported the decision.

The plural predicate is usually used in such cases:

A) between the subject and the predicate there are other members of the sentence, especially the participial turnover with the participle in the plural, the subordinate clause with the allied word which is in the plural. (Although this rule is not mandatory, it is still desirable to use the plural form of the predicate in such constructions.)

Most people, who watched the movie, highly appreciated the work of the director; Most people, who watched the movie, highly appreciated the work of the director;

b) with a noun, there are several controlled forms in the plural:

Majority workers, engineers and employees the plant was supported by the director;

V) with the subject there are homogeneous predicates:

Most of the students passed the tests and prepared well for the exams;

G) the sentence uses a compound nominal predicate, and the nominal part is expressed by adjectives and participles:

Most of the children were smart and cheerful; Most of the houses on this street are wooden.

In speech, the use of a predicate in the singular form with a subject indicating inanimate objects is very common (see the last example), but such a use in a literary language is undesirable.

Similar rules apply for the subject - a quantitative-nominal combination with words a lot, a little, a little, a lot, a lot, a lot, a few. The main norm is the use of the predicate in the singular. For setting the predicate in the plural, the action of additional factors is necessary. For example, the most common is the plural form of the predicate with the subject indicating animated objects, primarily people.

4. The same system of factors determines the agreement of the predicate with the subject, expressed quantitatively-nominal combination ( two brothers, thirty two chairs etc.), that is, a combination of a numeral with genitive case noun. The main norm is the statement of the predicate in the singular:

Five matches won; Five fighters went to reconnaissance.

Exception make up sentences with a subject including the numerals two, three, four. As a rule, with such a subject, the predicate is in the plural form:

Three houses are calling for the evening(Pushkin).

note

With a compound number ending in one, the predicate is in the singular, and, since this numeral changes by gender, the gender of the predicate can also be different:

Twenty-one representatives from thirty European countries participated in the conference; Twenty-one delegations attended the meeting.

There is also gender agreement with the numeral thousand, million, billion.

A thousand people showed up.

In other cases, the predicate in the singular usually has the form of the middle gender.

Five minutes have passed.

In addition to the factors that were indicated above, some specific conditions also affect the agreement of the predicate with the subject - a quantitative-nominal combination.

The tendency to use the singular is found when the number of objects named in the subject appears as something whole. This is most often manifested in cases where the verb-predicate has the meaning of being, presence, existence, position in space, flow in time. In such contexts, there are actually no separate objects, and the numeral is only a measurement of one temporal or spatial whole:

The room had two windows; Six chairs stood against the wall; Five years have passed since then.

Word order plays an important role in choosing the form of the predicate. Yes, at reverse order words (the predicate precedes the subject) the singular form is also more commonly used.

Wed: Three hours passed unnoticed; Three hours have passed.

The singular number of the predicate prevails when there are words in the sentence everything, only, only:

It's only been two days.

The plural form is obligatory when the actors perform more than one common action, but act separately:

Five people from different directions rushed to the criminal; The two cars drove off in different directions; Three little dogs rushed in all directions.

The plural form is usually used in cases where the independence of the action of each member of the set is emphasized. Especially often this can be observed with the subject, naming the number of people, other animate subjects:

Two girls in white dresses, with the same roses in their black hair, sat down in the same way.(L. Tolstoy).

However, the plural form can also be used with the subject naming the number of inanimate objects:

For example: Three young trees grow in front of the cave door - linden, birch and maple(M. Gorky). In this sentence, the independent perception of each individual tree is emphasized by the fact that each of them belongs to different species.

note that with a subject that names a large number of inanimate objects, the singular form is more common, since a large group is perceived as a single whole:

Two hundred people donated blood for the victims of the accident.

The factors that determine the choice of the plural form of the predicate also include the following:

A) the presence of a separate definition in the plural with the subject:

Three hours spent in his company gave us great pleasure;

b) presence with subject subordinate clause with an allied word which in plural:

Five ex-officers, recognizable by their clear movements and bearing, immediately took command;

V) presence with the subject of definitions all these:

All ten books were on the director's desk; Those five weeks flew by almost unnoticed.

Of particular note cases when the subject contains collective numerals ( two, three etc.). With them, the plural form is especially often used:

She was assisted by three lackeys, not combed from the cradle.

5. The agreement of the predicate in sentences with homogeneous subjects has its own specifics.

The choice of the form of the predicate largely depends on the order in which the subject group and the predicate group are located.

At direct order words (subjects come before the predicate), the plural form of the predicate is usually used:

Screams and sobbing could be heard from the next room.

At reverse order words, the singular form is more often used, and the predicate is consistent with the nearest of the homogeneous members:

Shouts and sobs could be heard from the next room.

However, the plural form of the predicate can also occur in reverse word order.

Wed: Screams and sobs could be heard from the next room.

Most often, this phenomenon is observed if one of the subjects is in the plural form.

Jealousy and tears laid her in bed(Chekhov).

In addition, the plural form is preferable if a large number of actors are emphasized (usually these are animate subjects):

Vitya, Pavlik, Kirill, and Arseniy Romanovich, who ran around them, shouted.

note to the fact that the plural form with the reverse word order is normative in official business and scientific styles, where the semantic accuracy of the statement comes to the fore ( The meeting was attended by ...; Elected to the Presidium...).

The choice of the form of the predicate also depends on the type of unions connecting homogeneous members.

At connecting unions ( and, yes, neither ... nor), and also with the union-free connection of homogeneous subjects, the above factors usually act.

At separating unions ( or, either, not that... not that, that... that) the predicate agrees with the nearest subject:

Outside the window was either snow or light rain; Experienced fear or instant fright after a minute seems strange.

Exception make up sentences in which homogeneous subjects are represented by nouns of various kinds, and the predicate is in the past tense. In this case, the plural form of the predicate is used.

Wed: Brother or Sister Arrives - A brother or sister should have come.

At adversarial unions ( but, but, however, but) in reverse word order, the predicate usually agrees with the nearest subject:

In direct word order, the predicate agrees with the subject, which is the real performer of the action:

Not you, but fate is to blame; A novel, not a story will be published in the next issue of the magazine.

If there is a comparative union between homogeneous subjects like...and the predicate is in the plural:

Both mother and daughter play the piano beautifully.

With other comparative conjunctions ( not only but; not so much ... as; if not...then etc.), the predicate usually agrees with the closest of the homogeneous subjects.

Not only mother, but also father condemned your act; Not so much the mother as the father condemned your act; If not your mother, then your father will condemn your act.

If there are personal pronouns among homogeneous subjects, then when agreeing in person, the first person is given preference over the second and third, the second person over the third.

Wed: You and I can do it; You and he can do it.

Once, in a news release on the ORT TV channel, a correspondent said: “About six hundred and ten million,” and one of the politicians said: “In two thousand and two.” Here we are dealing with perhaps the most frequent errors. What? I will ask you to tell me about this Irina Levontina, Senior Researcher, Institute of the Russian Language named after V.V. Vinogradov.

Declension of numerals, in general, their use is one of the most difficult places in Russian grammar. If a person knows how to use numerals correctly, then one can almost certainly say that this is a very literate person.

- However, these cases, mentioned by me, are not the most difficult.
- At first there was the phrase "about six hundred and ten million." There is a rule here. There are complex and compound numerals in Russian. Compound numbers consist of one word, but at the same time they have more than one root, for example, sixty. This is a complex number. And "twenty-five" is a compound number. It consists of more than one word. So, if we are dealing with cardinal numbers, that is, denoting a number or quantity - five, six, and so on, then they are inclined in such a way that all parts change. You need to say five thousand, five hundred, fifty-five, which, of course, almost no one does now. Here is the phrase...

- Six hundred and ten million.
- Yes, but it should be, of course, "six hundred". Here we are dealing with the so-called simplified change of numerals, when not all parts change.

But only the tail, which is already closer to the word "millions". There, of course, it asks to pronounce "ten million."
Yes, but here's what's most interesting. Already in the grammar of 1980, in academic grammar, such things are allowed for oral speech, although, of course, everyone understands that this is not entirely correct. In fact, normally everyone is taught that it is necessary to change all parts, but linguists here act like such defeatists and believe that it is impossible to fight for this. In live speech, it is not realistic for everyone to correctly decline numerals. Here, if an announcer would say so (but there are almost no announcers now), a person who speaks not spontaneously, but preparedly ...

- Let me emphasize: it was a reporter's speech in a prepared, written story.
- Correspondents have, unfortunately, already ... The quality of their speech has deteriorated greatly. Here he follows the way of changing numerals, which is considered acceptable for oral, rather ordinary, informal speech. This, of course, is not very good. But to say that it is absolutely impossible is impossible. Although I personally don’t like it terribly when people don’t know how to decline numerals, especially if they pretend to be carriers of a good literary language. I would correct my children in this situation.

Still, we emphasize that remembering this rule is not difficult at all. All parts of cardinal numbers are declined.
- Yes, but with ordinals the situation is different. And here is your second example - "two thousand and two". Here is exactly the opposite error. Because “two thousand and two” is not a quantitative numeral, but an ordinal one, that is, which means serial number subject, answers the question "which?". And in these numerals (well, such a quirk of Russian grammar, what can you do!) On the contrary, only the last part declines. We don't say "one thousandth nine hundred twenty-fifth". Of course, we don't think so. We say "one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five." At the same time, in the quantitative numeral "thousand nine hundred twenty-five" it would be necessary to decline all parts. And here instead of "two thousand two" they often say "two thousand two". This is a very common mistake. And here even the defeatist linguists have not yet recognized this as acceptable anywhere. This is indeed a gross and unpleasant mistake.

- Honestly, she cuts her ear.
Yes, but a very common mistake. It hurts the ear a lot. Sometimes it happens, by the way, quite unexpectedly so nice to meet the ability to decline numerals where you don’t expect it. A plumber came to me one day. He said it's better to buy a new battery. I ask: "Is it expensive?". And he says to me: "Somewhere between three hundred and fifty and four hundred." I am not responsible for the price, but it is important that he so clearly declined, as in a lesson, all parts of the numeral.

- A much more complicated case when we are dealing with constructions like "in a rally accepted participation of any person" or " accepted participation". Which option should be chosen here?
- It's a very difficult thing. Because there are several factors that affect the choice of form. They interact in a very complex way. We can say - five people came and five people came. In this case, indeed, there is practically no difference in meaning. But it is not always the case. Sometimes we have to choose either one or the other. I will list several factors on which this may depend. For example, in some designs, only one option is possible. You can say "there were five guests," but you can't say "there were five guests." In this design already, please, only neuter gender singular, plural does not work. Sometimes the choice depends, roughly speaking, on the word order and on what is called in linguistics the actual division, that is, what is the topic, and what, in fact, we want to communicate, emphasize, highlight, and so on. For example, it will sound very funny if we say: "music was playing, three couples were dancing a waltz." It is absolutely impossible here that “three couples danced a waltz”, this is what anyone will hear that this is wildly funny and terribly illiterate, but this does not mean that “three couples danced” is not possible at all. If, say, there was a dance competition, and then at the end the judge tells who performed and how. And he speaks with a different word order: "Three couples danced the waltz, two of them demonstrated a good professional level." This is completely normal. Why does this problem arise at all, that it is possible to use this form of the verb or another? Because such quantitative combinations (numeral plus noun) have a dual nature. Here, the verb with them can be agreed with the numeral or it can be considered that five people are a group that denotes people. Accordingly, perhaps, a more formal agreement with the numeral, then there will be a singular number and a neuter gender. Or maybe there is more semantic agreement. We seem to remember in this case that we are talking about a group of people or some other objects, and we put the verb in the plural. It is important here, firstly, what action, what event is being discussed. Let’s say “five people came” is normal, but “five people felt bad” is very strange. It's one thing when it's just about some kind of presence, existence, presence, then the neuter gender is normal, but rather "five people felt bad." Or "three people sang folk songs" - very strange. “Three people sang folk songs” is such a very concrete, tangible action. Or "five poets recited their poems." So, of course, no one will ever say.

- They say!
- They say, of course, anything. I mean, a literate person who watches his speech. Then, it is important about whom it is. With a person - it's easy there, "five people came", because a person in this kind of usage is almost a pronoun. Here attention is not drawn to the essence. It is important that five people, it's like "five", the number is important. And if five poets, five ministers, it will still be rather plural, because we more specifically imagine it not as a group, not as a mass, but as individuals, then it will rather be plural. In many cases where both forms are possible, they differ slightly in meaning. For example, a person has lost his phone and says: “What a shame, I had almost a hundred phones in my notebook.” Here, of course, he will not say "there were almost a hundred telephones." It is important for him to emphasize that there were many telephones. And, on the other hand, he can say differently: “Everything would be fine, but I had two phones there that I can’t restore.” There are not two phones, he has more, but he wants to say ...

- He wants to highlight them as the most important.
- Yes, about these. Or the example you started with - people took to the square. Of course, if the party reports, it says “five thousand people came to our rally”, and the police say that “500 people came to the rally”. It’s still in the neuter gender, because the quantity is important to both. But now if we say “five people came to the demonstration - such and such, such and such and such and such”. It is not the mass that is important to us - people came out under the slogans "For your and our freedom!", And we will now list what kind of people they were. It's not the quantity that matters, but the quality. Here, of course, not the neuter gender, but the plural will be used.