2. Each of the boys in the group (is/are/was) sixteen years old.

According to an English language trainer I used to know, the correct answer for #1 is "is" and for #2 is "are". Is he correct? Could you help me identify which is the subject and the verb in those sentences? Please explain to me because I'm confused. I thought the answers should be both "is" because of the subject-verb agreement: each is always singular and requires a singular verb. Does this mean the subject in the sentences is "each" or "each one of the boys"? I've read that "when each is separated from its verb by other words, it is easy to get confused about the form of the verb. Words that come between a subject and its verb do not affect the number of the subject or the form of the verb."

I also think that sentence#2 is wrong because it is a grammar outlaw or "Disagreeing Subject and Verb AKA The Disagreeable Sentence"

Please enlighten me. Thank you.

P.S.
According also to the English language trainer I used to know, the subject in sentence #1 "the boys" and in sentence#2 "the group". Is that correct? Coz I think he is wrong. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Last Edited on 1-Oct-2008 12:08 AM

Furthermore, the only difference between the two sentences is that one has "the group" and the other has "this group." How could this have any effect on the verb, even if group had been the subject (which it is not)? Ask your trainer about that.

Finally, ask your trainer how group could possibly be the subject in either sentence since it is obviously the object of the preposition in (in the/this group). It's a fundamental rule of grammar that the same word in the same sentence cannot be both the object of a preposition and the subject.
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Rich Turner (The Curmudgeon Himself)