Subject-Verb Agreement – ‘A Handful of Soldiers Is/Are Always Better Than a Mouthful of Arguments’

subject-verb-agreementsubjects

Which verb to use, 'is' or 'are', in the following case?

A handful of soldiers is/are always better than a mouthful of
arguments.

The original sentence, that I've got uses 'is'; I wonder why, and why not 'are'?

Could we use either? One in one context, other in some other context? Please explain!

On the contrary, I've got the following cases when 'a handful of'+plural is followed by a plural verb;

  1. Only a handful of activists are articulate in our union.
  2. Only a handful of people know the fact.
  3. Only a handful of men want to take childcare leave.

Edit: I think the feeling that it might take a singular verb might be coming because the sentence sounds like;

A hand full of soldiers is always better than a mouth full of
arguments.

Best Answer

A handful of soldiers is/are always better than a mouthful of arguments.

Are is more preferred than is for this sentence.

The actual usages show that it's depend on the meaning.

enter image description here The graph is from Ngram.

Michael Swan says in his Practical English Usage as follows:

Many singular quantifying expressions can be used with plural nouns and pronouns; plural verbs are normally used in this case.

A number of people have tried to find the treasure, but they have all failed.
(More natural than A number of people has tried ...)

(ยง526.2)

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