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Sometimes I get confused while watching movies and reading newspapers. Because, some people use the "be" form as has/have respectively. So I have a doubt about its usage. Can anyone please help me?

For example: Some of my friends has/have iphone 6 mobile phone.

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  • This is a good question because some is used for both - singular and plural making such construction interesting! – Maulik V♦ Oct 9 '15 at 4:54
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    "some of my friends" is plural, "one of my friends" is singular. – user3169 Oct 9 '15 at 4:59
  • hi all thanks for your kind reply, special thanks to mamta for Edited my question correctly. – ramesh6663 Oct 9 '15 at 9:10
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What you're looking for is subject-verb agreement. Remember the basic rules and you're good to go!

From Purdue OWL: Subject/Verb Agreement:

When two or more singular nouns or pronouns are connected by or or nor, use a singular verb. The book or the pen is in the drawer. 3. When a compound subject contains both a singular and a plural noun or pronoun joined by or or nor, the verb should agree with the part of the subject that is nearer the verb.

Further in detail, 20 Rules of Subject Verb Agreement

So the correct answer for your question would be

Some of my friends have iPhone 6 mobile phones.

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You got confused because 'some' is used for both - singular and plural. But then in such construction as user3169 says, some reflects plural.

So,

Some of my friends have iphone 6

If you want to make it singular, you may say...

One of my friends has iphone 6

If you are not sure about who is that one, some is also used singularly for unknown person

Some friend in my group has iphone 6

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    BTW, an iPhone 6. – user3169 Oct 9 '15 at 5:27
  • Hmm, interesting! But IMO, it's a proper noun so no indefinite article here! I'll say exactly what Apple says in its manual- "If you have iphone 6...you can also use the Touch ID..." – Maulik V♦ Oct 9 '15 at 5:31
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    The problem is that only Apple writes it that way, and it's quite strange of them to do so. Everyone else uses proper grammar when discussing iPhones. – snailcar♦ Oct 10 '15 at 10:06

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