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Please consider the following: My wide range of abilities have helped my team succeed. My wide range of abilities has helped my team succeed. Microsoft Word identifies the first as a subject-verb agreement error. However, from my perspective, the "wide range" is not the subject, but rather a descriptor of the abilities. Are either of these sentences wrong, and is one preferred? Answer In such cases, ‘. . . when there are agreement options, the singular verb seems to invoke the set, whereas the plural verb makes us aware of the individual items in it’ (The Cambridge Guide to English Usage’). That leaves the choice of both available to the writer, depending on the aspect to be emphasised.

When speaking about The Netherlands as a country , should it be considered as a plural or singular word? Examples: The Netherlands is a country. The Netherlands are famous for cheese and windmills. Is there a general rule for this? Do instances such as "The United States of America" and "The United Arab Emirates" follow the same rule?

Where did this come from? It sounds nasty to me (I am not a native speaker). But it seems correct. Can somebody explain this? Answer If you're talking about you and your spouse, it's not possible to be "married with " anyone; you can only be "married to " someone. Hence there is no ambiguity in saying "married with three kids", as the "with" cannot be associated with "married".