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BREEDING SEASONS Most birds are not simply reluctant to breed at other times – they are physically incapable of doing so. This is because their reproductive system shuts down and shrinks, an adaptation that helps flying birds to save weight. The main exception to this rule are nomadic desert species, such as Zebra Finches and Budgerigars.

  • source; ‘The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Birds’ issued in London

While I think the grammatical subject is ‘the main exception’, which needs the singular verb ‘is’ in the bold part above, why did the author use ‘are’? If the ‘are’ is to be allowed in this context, I guess he/she might have considered one of the following possibilities;

(1) the inversion applied; with the subject - ‘nomadic desert species’ and the complement - ‘the main exception’. (2) the notional agreement applied; some people consider the real subject to be ‘nomadic desert species’ semantically, while the formal subject is ‘the main exception’ (3) the principle of proximity applied; the verb ‘are’ (not 'is') has been finally agreed by the close plural complement ‘nomadic desert species’.

Even if one of the possibilities above has been applied, could it be grammatically accepted here?

Would appreciate your responses.

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    In my opinion it's an error; it should be the main exception is.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Oct 20 at 13:05
  • I will take a contrarian view and say that in simple predicates using BE it is quite common to find number disagreement of that sort, especially with abstract nouns like exception and when the plural items have something in common as they do here, nomadic desert. I don't find "exception is nomadic desert species" any less awkward.
    – TimR
    Commented Oct 20 at 13:34
  • @Kate Bunting appreciate your response.
    – Yh Kim
    Commented Oct 20 at 20:02
  • @TimR appreciate your response.
    – Yh Kim
    Commented Oct 20 at 20:04

2 Answers 2

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This is a mistake. The verb has to agree with the subject, and it is The main exception, singular. Ngram shows the usage comparison, is against are.

Ngram

With inversion, it would be

Nomadic desert species are the main exception to this rule.

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  • appreciate your comment.
    – Yh Kim
    Commented Oct 20 at 20:06
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I. Subject-Verb Agreement

The original sentence:

The main exception to this rule are nomadic desert species, such as Zebra Finches and Budgerigars.

According to the subject-verb agreement rule:
A singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb..

  • In the original sentence, the subject "The main exception" is singular, but the verb "are" is plural.
  • This creates a mismatch. To fix this, either the subject must become plural ("exceptions") or the verb must become singular ("is").

II. Is "Species" , Singular or Plural?.

"Species" can be both singular and plural, depending on context:

  • Singular: Refers to one group/type of organism.
    There is a species of fungus that grows in our forest.
  • Plural: Refers to multiple grops/types of organisms.
    These species are on the edge of extinction.

In the original sentence, "species" is plural because it refers to multiple types of birds (Zebra Finches and Budgerigars).

III. The Missing "s"

The plural meaning of "species" indicates that multiple exceptions are being described, not just one.
Thus, the error lies in the singular noun "exception." The subject should be plural to match the plural verb "are" and the plural meaning of "species."

Correct Sentence:

The main exceptions to this rule are nomadic desert species, such as Zebra Finches and Budgerigars.

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