Agreement with Plural Forms that Have Singular Meanings

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Some nouns that resemble plurals are actually singular. All of the following nouns are singular:

politics
news
physics
mathematics

They require singular verbs

In the following sentence, the verb have is used correctly:

Ben and Ted have so many friends.

Politics is the focus of tonight’s news report.



Click the correct sentence. The news are disturbing today. The news is disturbing today.

No. In this sentence, are is not correct.

Yes. In this sentence, is is correct.

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