Verb agreement with total, number and range

Question:

Does the noun total take a singular or plural verb?

Answer:

Collective nouns such as total, number and range can be troublesome in terms of subject-verb agreement. Whether these nouns take a singular or plural verb often depends on the article that comes before them. When they are preceded by the indefinite article a, they are usually treated as plural, and when they are preceded by the definite article the, they are generally treated as singular.

Verb agreement with total:

• A total of 18 people were present for this afternoon's workshop.
• The total was far less than we had expected.

Verb agreement with number:

• A number of ice cream flavours are available at the coffee shop.
• The number of available flavours is quite astounding.

Verb agreement with range:

• A range of topics were covered during the presentation.
• The range of topics was exhaustive.

If you remember the tip about a and the, you shouldn't have any trouble handling subject-verb agreement.