SAT® · Reading and Writing: Form, Structure, and Sense — Agreement
The Number Of versus A Number Of
'The number of' names one quantity and takes a singular verb; 'a number of' just means 'several' and takes a plural verb matching the noun after 'of'.
The test likes to bury the real subject of a sentence under a long prepositional phrase, and 'the number of' versus 'a number of' is the clearest version of that trick. 'The number of beekeepers' is really about one thing: a total, a count. That total is singular, so the verb stays singular, no matter how many beekeepers you're counting. 'A number of beekeepers' doesn't name a total at all. It's a loose stand-in for 'several' or 'many', and the real subject it's pointing at is the plural noun that follows 'of'. So the verb matches that plural noun instead.
This isn't a memorized exception because the logic is consistent: ask what the sentence is actually counting. 'The number' is a noun phrase that refers to a single figure, the way 'the total' or 'the count' would. 'A number' never refers to a specific figure; it's filler that means 'some'. Once you see that, the singular/plural split stops looking arbitrary and starts looking like ordinary subject-verb agreement, just with the real subject disguised.
The same split shows up with 'a variety of', 'a majority of', and 'a total of' when they work as loose quantity words rather than as a count of one thing. 'A majority of the ballots have been counted' treats 'majority' like 'most', pointing to the plural 'ballots'. But if the phrase names one defined group or measure acting as a single unit, the verb can stay singular. The test plants extra words between subject and verb specifically so you lose track of which noun actually governs agreement, and this pair is the cleanest test case for that habit.
Key terms
- Subject-verb agreement
- The rule that a verb's form must match whether its true subject is singular or plural.
- The number of
- A phrase naming one total count, which always takes a singular verb.
- A number of
- A phrase meaning 'several', which takes a plural verb matching the noun after 'of'.
- Prepositional phrase
- A phrase like 'of licensed beekeepers' that modifies a noun but is never itself the subject of the verb.
Watch it explained
- How it worksHow does 'the number' name one quantity while 'a number' means nothing more than 'several'?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't this pair an arbitrary exception that you simply have to memorise?
- Going furtherWhat happens with 'a variety of', 'a majority of', and 'a total of', which split the same way?
Check yourself
End of topic.