Grammer question? 'Is' or 'Are'?

[pushrod]

Gordon Ramsay's doing my nut in.
When he announces the results on the F Word he says, "The number of diners wishing to pay......is......Blah blah"
Are the 'diners' a collective group and therefore singular or because they have not voted as one should they be treated as many individuals and therefore pural.
"The number of diners wishing to pay..........are......."?

Which is correct please, I'm not sleeping well.

[zenarcher]

'Is' is correct,because the 'number' is singular.

[graham John]

strewth, i remember the good ole Days when andy C used to ask easy questions, like"will princess Calipers fit an Escort"

cheeRS

[Neil Fletcher]

You think that's bad - my mother is 82 and a retired Primary School teacher, recently she was in hospital for an operation. Anyway the Surgeon/Consultant came round and left her a consent form to sign.

Anyway, sometime later he returned, mum hadn't signed the form and he enquired why not - she says "I can't, it's not grammatically correct".

All the best, Neil.

[pushrod]

'Is' is correct,because the 'number' is singular.

You're really going to have to expand on that one.

Would you say, "There is a number of us going out tonight"?
Surely "There are a number of us going out tonight" is correct??
Maybe I'm wrong??
Neil, ask your Mum!

[Dave1800BDA]

You think that's bad - my mother is 82 and a retired Primary School teacher, recently she was in hospital for an operation. Anyway the Surgeon/Consultant came round and left her a consent form to sign.

Anyway, sometime later he returned, mum hadn't signed the form and he enquired why not - she says "I can't, it's not grammatically correct".

All the best, Neil.

quality

[plentysideways]

You're really going to have to expand on that one.

Would you say, "There is a number of us going out tonight"?
Surely "There are a number of us going out tonight" is correct??
Maybe I'm wrong??
Neil, ask your Mum!

Zenarcher is correct because Ramsey is referring to "number" and there is only one number; he is not referring to "diners", of which there are more than one. The word diners is only used to describe what "number" is referring to. He could equally say " The number wishing to pay is......" and mean exactly the same thing.

[Smoglee]

You think that's bad - my mother is 82 and a retired Primary School teacher, recently she was in hospital for an operation. Anyway the Surgeon/Consultant came round and left her a consent form to sign.

Anyway, sometime later he returned, mum hadn't signed the form and he enquired why not - she says "I can't, it's not grammatically correct".

All the best, Neil.

Kwolity