Well I was confused at the same place, then found this in Yale's graduate writing online tutorial:


3. When an -of phrase follows a percentage, distance, fraction, or amount, the verb agrees with
the noun closest to the verb.
Ex: Half of the tables are occupied.
21% of the population is poor.
21% of the books are paperback.


https://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/writ ... eement.pdf

aimscore wrote:Hi Eric, all members of the forum.

I downloaded Erics free gmat flash cards from the website. I came across some notes on quantifiers, but could not completely understand the context/ meaning..Can someone pls explain ??


Quantifiers
With fractions, percentages, and indefinite quantifiers,
the verb should agree with main subject of the sentence,
not the noun contained within the prepositional phrase.
CORRECT: "Thirteen percent of Cleveland's teens
are pregnant."
NOTE: "of Cleveland's teens" is NOT the subject!
With singular or non-count nouns or clauses, use a singular verb

What exactly is the subject of this statement ?


Plural/Singular
"[QUANTIFIER] of [NOUN] [VERB]"
The noun determines whether verb is singular or plural.
CORRECT: "Most of the students are..."
CORRECT: "Most of the school is..."
Can someone provide a list of quantifiers? And if possible explain them with examples too..

Thanks

Quantifier
I remember this with a simple rule,
in case of percent/proportion of + noun sentences, if the noun is countable then [VERB] will be plural
If noun is non-countable, [VERB] will be singular.

A proportion of students are lazy.
thirteen percent of this liquid is water.

For your second question,
In case of SANAM pronouns, look at the [noun] after of . If the noun is countable, [VERB] will be plural.
If noun is non-countable, [VERB] will be singular.

SANAM pronouns = Some, All, None, Any, Most