Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. Is the Academy Awards singular or plural? Writing about time.
Mar 10, 2026
A lively dive into whether the Academy Awards should be treated as singular or plural and how to avoid awkward number agreement in sentences. A practical look at writing times, from a.m./p.m. styling to noon and midnight recommendations. Clarifies time-zone labels like GMT, UTC and Zulu, and flags common time redundancies to cut. Fun familect moment about the word "Lou."
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When Academy Awards Is Versus Are
- The phrase Academy Awards can take either a singular or plural verb depending on meaning.
- Use singular (is) for the ceremony as one event and plural (are) for the multiple awards; context and notional agreement guide the choice.
Notional Agreement Explains Odd Verb Choices
- Notional agreement lets grammatical number follow meaning rather than strict syntax.
- Examples: '10 best actor awards is enough' treats the idea of receiving awards as a single notion rather than ten separate items.
Rewrite To Avoid Singular Plural Mismatch
- Prefer clarity: rewrite sentences to avoid odd singular/plural mismatches.
- Add a word like ceremony (The Academy Awards ceremony is March 15th) to remove ambiguity and reduce reader distraction.