These are two sentences combined into one:
The Soviet Union is no more, but the entity created specifically to counter its military might thrives.
This is talking about the present. Said "entity created specifically to counter its military might" is still thriving at that point.
The Pentagon's budget increased relentlessly until 2011, topping $700 billion.
This talks about the past. The Pentagon's budget increased before this point. It does not, however, tell us if the Pentagon's budget is still thriving, so we can't use the present form "does" here. We could use "did":
The Soviet Union is no more, but the entity created specifically to counter its military might thrives.
As did the Pentagon's budget, which increased relentlessly until 2011, topping $700 billion.
The "As" here simply refers back to "thrives" and indicates, as above, that "the Pentagon's budget" thrived just like "the entity created …".
The Soviet Union is no more, but the entity created specifically to counter its military might thrives as did the Pentagon's budget, which increased relentlessly until 2011, topping $700 billion.
The choice between "has" and "did" here is mostly at the author's discretion. Personally, I would pick "has" instead of "did" because "did" implies the budget increased completely on its own, but as I said, both would be grammatically correct.
You are quite right: these both require plural verbs. Any dictionary should give you the conjugations of have and be
PRESENT BE HAVE
1st person singular I am I have
2nd person singular you are you have
3rd person singular he/she/it is he/she/it has
1st person singular we are we have
2nd person singular you are you have
3rd person singular they are they have
PAST BE HAVE
1st person singular I was I had
2nd person singular you were you had
3rd person singular he/she/it was he/she/it had
1st person singular we were we had
2nd person singular you were you had
3rd person singular they were they had
Note:
- BE is the only verb which has three different forms in the present and two different forms in the past.
- The odal verbs can, may, shall and will have only one form in the present and one form in the past. The modal verb must has only one form.
All other verbs have
- two forms in the present: a plain form for all persons and numbers except 3rd person singular, which has a form ending in -s
- one form in the past
Best Answer
Has increased, since "selling" is singular.
But I suspect you mean "Sales of properties have increased". In this case it is "have" because "sales" is plural.
Alternatively, you might mean "The number of people selling properties has increased." In this case it is "has" because "number" is singular.
The important thing to note is that it is not the number of properties involved that determines singular or plural here. It is whether the word that "increased" refers to is singular or plural. Thus:
"Robberies have increased." because "robberies" is plural.
But "Stealing has increased" because "stealing" is singular.
Both say exactly the same thing, but the grammatical structure is different, and thus it is have in one case and has in the other.