1. A group of penguins were taking off to the sky.
2. A group of penguins was taking off to the sky.
(Which one is right? Do we have to use 'swere' or 'was' here?)
The subject is 'group' which is singular. Which verb will you use?
Do we have to use the singular verb 'was'?
Yes, that's right!
When figuring out the subject, take out prepositional phrases. In this case, the prepositional phrase is "of penguins."
A group was...
A group were...
"Was" obviously sounds correct.
The correct sentence is: "A group of penguins was taking off to the sky."
In this case, we use the singular verb "was" because "group" is the subject of the sentence and it is treated as a single entity. Even though there are multiple penguins in the group, grammatically, we consider the group itself as a collective noun.
To determine whether to use "was" or "were" in a sentence, you should consider the subject and whether it is singular or plural. If the subject is singular, then you would use "was." If the subject is plural, then you would use "were." In this case, "group" is singular, so we use "was."
However, it's worth noting that in some English dialects, "were" might be used in place of "was" with collective nouns. This is known as a "plural verb form," and it is used to emphasize the individuals within the group rather than the group as a whole. So both "A group of penguins was taking off" and "A group of penguins were taking off" can be considered correct, although the former is more commonly used.