________________ have already been sold.
Which of the following options correctly completes the sentence above?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

With words that indicate portions, we are guided by the noun after of.
With words that describe amounts or portions, such as "a lot," we look to the noun after the word "of" to determine if we use a singular or plural verb. In this case, the phrase is "a lot of earrings," which is a plural noun.
The sentence we have to complete already has the plural verb phrase "have been sold," so a plural subject is needed. "A lot of earrings" is the only plural subject in the answer choices.
A box of earrings is incorrect because "a box" is a singular entity, it is not describing the amount of something. There is one box of earrings, so the verb would need to be singular.
A lot of the earring is incorrect because the noun (earring) following "a lot of" is singular so the verb would need to be singular as well.
One of the earrings is incorrect because the phrase "one of" tells us that there is one earring, which is singular. This would require a singular verb.

________________ Have Already Been Sold