Singular or Plural?

[spicysaurus]

Okay, fellow grammarians, I've encountered a question and can't seem to find the right answer. Can anybody lead me in the right direction

Comments

[girlygothic]

I've always found when faced with this kind of question, it helps to pare the sentence down as much as possible.

As you wouldn't say "suggestions was used", but would say "suggestions were used", that's the way you should go.

[kelemvor]

Hmm. Ambivalent!

I'd go with the plural. Not only would it read more naturally, it's more likely to reflect the situation (it is more likely from a casual reading of the sentence that multiple suggestions were in use, rather than just the one).

[danthered]

The agenda for week six incorporates up to ten suggestions.

Sentence length cut by 29%
Passive voice eliminated
Plural/singular quandary sidestepped
"Week six agenda" awkwardness rectified
"Anywhere from (…) to" redundancy nuked
"One to ten" stiltedness zapped

[spicysaurus]

While I thank you for your help, I don't think I can use that. I have already made several corrections to errors in the sentence and the instructions are for light copyediting. So I think that would be considered too much rewriting. Level editing is part of the course instruction.

Plus, I'm still curious about the correct verb to use, if a sentence is written such that revising the conundrum away isn't possible.

I'm inclined to agree with the first commenter: the subject of the sentence is "suggestions" so the verb is plural. That's a dramatic simplification, but it seems to work.

[detailbear]

"Anywhere from one to ten" translates to "some", so "Some suggestions were used...."