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All bad news spread(s) fast.

Textbooks teach that you should use singular forms with 'news'. In the sentence above, though, the plural form sounds more natural to me, somehow.

So, is it 'spread' or 'spreads'?

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  • Plural is not idiomatic. We'd probably say Bad news always spreads fast if making a general statement of that nature.
    – TimR
    Jun 12, 2018 at 17:00
  • Bad news spreads fast (present) but the bad news spread fast (past). I think part of the problem here also has to do with a possible confusion over verb tense rather than subject-verb agreement.
    – Jason Bassford
    Jun 12, 2018 at 19:52

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News is an uncountable noun and, as a result, treated as singular. This is why a singular form is used.

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