grammatical number - "Here is/are" followed by plural





  • Here is the documents needed.

  • Here are the documents needed.



Which is grammatically correct and why? My guess would be the second one because of the plural form.



Answer



Documents are plural, so the only correct usage is:



Here are the documents needed



This isn't an edge case, so it is simple. Compare



Here are the potatoes



and



Here is the sack of potatoes



Where the subject is plural, you use are and when it is singular you use is.


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