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I'm hoping to learn the proper grammar for a question I just asked a colleague.

  1. The first of two calipers shipped to us is here.
  2. The first of two calipers shipped to us are here.
Jasper
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Jocelyn
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    This is a common question asked of English native speakers to test their ability to match subject to verb. The subject is "the first", which is singular, so it should be is. It's also a common question on this site, so you're likely to find many duplicate questions if you search for "subject verb agreement" – Andrew Jan 18 '19 at 18:27
  • @Andrew Should it be marked as a duplicate? – Tashus Jan 18 '19 at 18:27
  • @Tashus I don't know how others do it, but I have the hardest time finding duplicates on SE. For some reason every search pulls up any number of unrelated hits. There must be a trick to it. Fortunately this one was pretty easy, but I suggest Jocelyn do the search herself in case the one I linked doesn't help. There are many, many others. – Andrew Jan 18 '19 at 18:30
  • You wouldn't say The first of my three children are* named Mary.* right? – TimR Jan 18 '19 at 18:31
  • @Andrew I also find the interface difficult. Usually I search for a similar question in another tab, then type the exact title into the VTC interface. I have not had much luck using what I assume should be the intended workflow. (I'm not sure this is an exact duplicate though. The subtle difference between a plural as part of the noun phrase and a plural in the predicate makes me think that these are distinct.) – Tashus Jan 18 '19 at 18:33
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    I think this question is potentially confusing simply because the particular noun *caliper* is often pluralised when referring to a *single* instrument (somewhat like *scissors). Which actually shouldn't have any relevance to the issue being queried, so perhaps it would have been better to ask about The first of two instruments shipped to us.* – FumbleFingers Jan 18 '19 at 19:07
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    @Andrew I've added a place for folks to share their searching tips to the Contributor's Guide on [meta]. This is why it's really important to tag things properly - you can use tags to limit your search AND they affect what shows up in the "Related" section in the side bar... – ColleenV Jan 18 '19 at 20:28

1 Answers1

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Here you should say:

The first of two calipers shipped to us is here.

Two calipers exist, but the subject of the sentence is only the first (caliper). Since this is only a single caliper, the singular verb "is" should be used.

Tashus
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