In the thread accompanying the question The holidays are a good time to be with family, Colin Fine writes
The holidays is a good time…, which I don't think is idiomatic even
in the US
I'd agree (speaking as a Brit) that this sounds at least rather unnatural.
However, adding padding seems to make this expression sound more acceptable, and examples (which need sorting out from a lot of noise) are not too uncommon on the internet.
During the holidays is [a good time to / the time to / when … ]
occurs, but one might say that this is a different structure, more analogous to 'The first day of the holidays is …' or more convincingly 'Early in the holidays is …'.
These examples (again from the internet) are more prototypical:
… the summer holidays is the perfect time to
practice.The Christmas holidays is the favourite time of the year for many.
and I'm quite happy with these examples.
There are even examples of the 'unpadded' usage:
The holidays is the time to take a breath, meet new people …
We all know that the holidays is the time where we slack off most.
I'd probably choose to rephrase these.
What is your opinion about the acceptability of these structures?
Best Answer
Google Books search results that pair 'the holidays' with a singular verb
Some U.S. English speakers seem to base their decision about whether to follow "the holidays" with a singular verb or a plural one on whether they understand the notion of "the holidays" as a single continuous thing that stretches across a poorly defined number of days or weeks, or as a series of discrete, freestanding days.* Other U.S. English speakers follow the inflexible rule of "if the subject looks plural, it takes a plural verb." Google Books search results show some (but not much) evidence of idiomatic U.S. use of "the holidays [singular verb]." Most of the matches that do appear involve either reproduced conversations or prose that is very informal in other ways.
From Mattie Jordan & Elisa Baldwin, Where the Wild Animals Is Plentiful: Diary of an Alabama Fur Trader's Daughter, 1912–1914 (1999):
In view of this book's title, it is hardly surprising that "the holidays" is linked to a singular verb. The writer consistently uses singular verbs with plural subjects, so "the holidays does" is not an instance of "the holidays [singular verb]" as an idiomatic special case; on the other hand, it indicates the existence in the early 1900s of a general pattern of colloquial speech that may have helped make "The holidays is" more common in parts of the United States than in the UK.
From Evangeline Michell, The African American Law School Survival Guide (2006):
From Melissa Leonard, Gift Giving for Mommies: Empowering Women at All Life Stages (2008):
From Markku Kopare, Tales from the Eagle's Nest - a View 2 a Prophecy (2011):
From Mark Spitz, "Playwright's Notes," in Marshmallow World (2012):
From Joe Alaska, The Road to Dutch Harbor (2013):
Google Books search result for 'the playoffs was'
A somewhat similar situation arises in connection with the sporting term playoffs, which refers to a series of contests played after the regular season has ended, to determine that year's league or division champion. Like "the holidays," "the playoffs" is generally understood to be a plural entity and to take a plural verb. But in Google Books search results, there are exceptions where speakers or writers attach a singular verb to "the playoffs." Here are two, both involving baseball playoffs.
From Brent P. Kelley, interview with Frank Seward, in The San Francisco Seals, 1946-1957: Interviews with 25 Former Baseballers (2002):
From Ken Kaiser & David Fisher, Planet of the Umps: A Baseball Life from Behind the Plate (2003):
Conclusions
Instances in which an author has attached a singular verb to "the holidays" are quite rare in the Google Books database of books and periodicals. But from the tenor of the examples that a Google Books search does find, I imagine that the usage in colloquial speech in the United States is considerably more common. Three of the five recent matches for "the holidays [singular verb]" that I've cited in my answer involve one or another form of "the holidays is a time"—which invites speculation that the singular verb is most likely to occur when the speaker or writer thinks of "the holidays" as a single continues entity, like a season.
Even in the United States, however, the usage is unusual and (from most publishers' point of view, I suspect) highly informal. And I didn't find any instances of the usage in UK sources.
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*The sense of "the holidays" evidently differs between North American and UK usage. According to Margery Fee & Janice McAlpine, Guide to Canadian English Usage, (2007):
Fee & McAlpine doesn't define the duration of "the Christmas season," but if its defining features are the appearance of Christmas-themed commercial displays (colored lights, wintry scenes, Christmas trees, etc.) and the playing of Christmas carols at retail outlets, "the Christmas season" seems to start around Halloween (October 31) in many U.S. cities.