subject-verb agreement

[hela]

Dear teachers,

Would you please tell me which form of the verb would you use here and why?

Ten yards of cloth are / is (?) needed to upholster my sofa.

All the best,
Hela

[danmahaffey]

Dear teachers,

Would you please tell me which form of the verb would you use here and why?

Ten yards of cloth are / is (?) needed to upholster my sofa.

All the best,
Hela

Strictly speaking, ten yards of cloth is needed. Why is this? Ten yards of cloth is a collective phrase, plural in construction but singular in usage. The reason is that ten yards is a whole, indivisible sheet of cloth (not made of parts) that measures ten yards, and we refer to it in its entirety as singular. Similarly we would say that ten miles is a long distance to walk to school each day, not ten miles are a long distance.

Ten bottles of beer are needed for table three is something your waiter would say, and the ten bottles are ten separate items and are plural in usage.

[hela]

Thanks Dan,

Now it' s very clear to me.
Hela