S/V agreement question from HBR article < need expert hel

[voodoo_child]

One thing I learned before I became a director is that there are an abundance of board readiness events for newbies like me.

Shouldn't the verb be IS? There is an abundance of X?

Source :Harvard Business Review (for those of you who care about the source https://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/09/quotas_ ... s_are.html)

Thanks
Purple Haze[/u]

[aspirant2011]

One thing I learned before I became a director is that there are an abundance of board readiness events for newbies like me.

Shouldn't the verb be IS? There is an abundance of X?

We have already used verb is (marked in green above) & second verb after there should be are only Because subject for this verb is abundance of board readiness events

I hope I am clear


Thanks
Purple Haze[/u]

[vzzai]

I agree with you. GMAT rules don't apply to HBR articles.

[dinaroneo]

We have already used verb is (marked in green above) & second verb after there should be are only Because subject for this verb is: abundance of board readiness events

Agree with aspirant2011, the verb should be are here.

[tpr-becky]

While the GMAT rules don't always apply to writing (in fact many writers break basic grammar rules every day) in this question the are is appropriate.

One thing ... is ... (this is the basic sentence and the "is" is correct because it refers to "one thing") However in the phrase "that there are an abundance...of events" in this case "are" is correct because it refers to abundance of events, a plural noun. Is would have been appropriate if it had said "there is one event for ...."

[voodoo_child]

While the GMAT rules don't always apply to writing (in fact many writers break basic grammar rules every day) in this question the are is appropriate.

One thing ... is ... (this is the basic sentence and the "is" is correct because it refers to "one thing") However in the phrase "that there are an abundance...of events" in this case "are" is correct because it refers to abundance of events, a plural noun. Is would have been appropriate if it had said "there is one event for ...."

Becky - I have a different opinion but please correct me if I am wrong.

"Are" would have been correct if "abundance" was used as an adjective. e..g there are abundant reality TV shows aired nowadays.

However, in the above example "abundance" is used as a noun. Example : There is an abundance of TV shows aired on CNN.

Correct?

Thanks
Voodoo Chile

[badpoem]

@tpr-becky

I am no expert but correct me if i am wrong. Isn't "an abundance" supposed to be a denoting a collection?

Say for example, An abundance of knowledge. We certainly do not say "There are an abundance of knowledge"

There are events

but

There IS an abundance of events. Strictly my personal opinion but as I said, do correct me.