grammatical number - Struggling with Plural/Singular?


Which of the following is a grammatically correct statement?




  1. The value of cars depreciate over time.




  2. The values of cars depreciate over time.




  3. The value of cars depreciates over time.




Thanks!



Answer



The first one is incorrect.



The value of cars depreciate over time.



The verb should agree with 'value', not cars.


For this reason, the 2nd and 3rd ones are both correct. Their usage depends on context.


Consider:



The values of (most) cars depreciate over time.



Values of different cars


and



The value of (my) cars depreciates over time.



Value of all my cars taken collectively


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