Subject-Verb Agreement with "years" (measurement?) as subject?


Subject-Verb Agreement, wondering which is correct in the following?



Our years of grammar experience have / has taught us...



Assuming "have" is correct. And that phrase "of grammar experience" doesn't determine. But I'm confused now after having read that plural "years" is thought to be singular because "years" is a measurement, I believe was the argument, here:


Measurements Generally a number, fraction, or quantity of things is considered singular if considered as a mass (ten gallons is enough) and plural if considered as separate units (ten dishfuls were slowly doled out). Sums of money, time, distances, and other similar measurements are often singular (Only years of dedication earns a climber the right to stand on such a peak).


I realize there are somewhat similar questions already on your site but I can't find one that solves completely. There are many opinions but not many final words. Thanks



Answer



The choice of verb number depends on whether the sense is taken from years as one extent of time or as many individual years. For the first consider this description of an Italian city:



Ironically therefore, the years of neglect is also the very reason why Sulmona is now one of Italy’s best-kept secrets, a rare and precious treasure of history, culture and tradition in a world where so much has changed for the worst.



Here, the sense of years is that of an era. Contrast this with this passage from Report of the Government of Madras on the Indian Pearl Fisheries in the Gulf of Mannar by James Hornell:


In the case of the other pars [islets] of the group the years of neglect are 1888 to 1890, 1892, 1893, 1898, 1900 and 1901, eight years in all.


In this case, the years are individually considered, so the word has a plural sense and thus takes a plural verb.


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