"was a series" "were a series" of buzzing angry lizard-men

xoxyx

Ok - I know this isn't going to be one of the questions of the decade, but which is correct?

I think you would say there was a series of documents (or lizard-men, or whatever) but someone else is saying there were a series of documents.

What do you think learned Boardsies??

Eliot Rosewater

Series is singular, so one would presume that the correct usage is "was a series".

pickarooney

I think this is an argument which could run for days with no definitive answer.
I suppose it comes down to what exactly you're applying the existential verb to.

There were documents - obvious enough
There were three documents - again, fairly straightforward
There were many documents - still easy
There were lots of documents - again it must be plural, but the reason for it is not so clear. Are we saying "there were lots (of documents)" or "there were (lots of) documents"?
There were a lot of documents/there was a lot of documents. At a guess I would say most people could consider only the former correct.
There were a series of documents/there was a series of documents. This one, although virtually identical in structure to the previous example, is probably 50/50.

The more important, or substantial the noun used to describe the number of the object, the more likely it is that the singular will be used.

Mr. Presentable

z_topaz wrote: »

Ok - I know this isn't going to be one of the questions of the decade, but which is correct?

I think you would say there was a series of documents (or lizard-men, or whatever) but someone else is saying there werea series of documents.

What do you think learned Boardsies??

The "a" is singular indicative, thus the former is correct.

FlutterinBantam

nipplenuts wrote: »

The "a" is singular indicative, thus the former is correct.

With you there NN.

Drop the 'a' and you get 'There were series of documents' which would indicate more than one series.

I doubt if you would say 'There was series of documents'

Leave in the 'a' and you get' There was a series of documents' indicating only one series.

looksee

Was a series or
were several series

xoxyx

nipplenuts wrote: »

The "a" is singular indicative, thus the former is correct.

Yep - that's what I think. La la la la la - I was right! Thanks guys!

deman

I'm pretty sure that David Icke used "was a series of angry lizard men."

Or actually "is a series of angry lizard men, running the developed world." Or something like that.

pickarooney

deman wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that David Icke used "was a series of angry lizard men."

Or actually "is a series of angry lizard men, running the developed world." Or something like that.

Would 'series' not indicate a temporal succession of lizard men, making it illogical for there to be more than one at any time, thus making 'is' impossible?

deman

pickarooney wrote: »

Would 'series' not indicate a temporal succession of lizard men, making it illogical for there to be more than one at any time, thus making 'is' impossible?

Yes and no. Not with a predictable or a fixed series which hasn't finished.

But in the case of angry lizard men, I'd use "was" as you know how unpredictable they can be.:pac:

An example of a predictable or fixed series could be a television series.

"Stargate Universe is a good TV series"

or

"A series of football matches is coming to an end soon."