Are or Is?

DeneBebbo

I've got a sentence where I'm not sure whether to write this:

"The Maldives is comprised of nearly 1,200 islands"

or this:

"The Maldives are comprised of nearly 1,200 islands"

I think it should be "are", but often get caught out with the are and is thing!

Dwight

Yes, DB, it should be are. Think of other similar islands: The British Isles are wet most of the time.

I'm wondering about the rest of your sentence though: shouldn't it be: The Maldives comprise nearly 1,200 islands?

DeneBebbo

[quote=Dwight]I'm wondering about the rest of your sentence though: shouldn't it be: The Maldives comprise nearly 1,200 islands? [/quote]

Yes, I think you're right. Even if "comprised of" is grammatically correct (is it?), it is rather clunky!

collide-o-scope

Comprise means 'consist of' or 'be made up of' so the second 'of' is superfluous. My dictionary's advice on usage is that more acceptable alternatives are consist of, be composed of or simply comprise without the of.

Rosalie

'The Maldives consist of nearly 1,200 islands' sounds perfect to me and gets over the is/are problem.

Baggy Books

Are there (almost) 1,200 islands?

Verica

Dwight, you're right: The Maldives comprise nearly 1 200 islands.

Marc.B

Isn't the use of is and are dictated by the preceding word being either singular or plural?

Lolli

Generally speaking yes, and 'The Maldives' refers to several Islands, so is a plural word. You could say the Maldives are made up of severasl Islands, or as Dwight put,

[quote=dwight]The Maldives comprise nearly 1,200 islands[/quote]

which is grammatically correct and avoids all the traps an editor might want to pick up on.

Dwight

Thanks for the confidence shown, folks, but DB, is your statement true :) ?