A number of public scandals has recently led to new federal legislation, which is creating higher demand for forensic accountants.
I had thought that since the subject is "A number (of)", "has" is appropriate. However, apparently, "has" should be replaced with "have". Could someone help me understand this please?
Best Answer
The expression ‘a number’ is strictly singular, but the phrase ‘a number of’ is used with plural nouns as a determiner. The verb should therefore be plural: a number of cars have crashed; a number of people are waiting for the bus. Note that this is not the case with ‘the number’, which is still singular: the number of dogs in my street has remained the same this year.
A number is or are? (Oxford)