1. 形式上虽为单数，但意义为复数名词，如the police, people, cattle等作主语时，谓语动词用复数。如：

Cattle eat grass. 牛吃草。

注：people 作“民族”解时，其单数形式为people，复数形式为peoples，作主语时，应用语法一致原则。如：

The Chinese people is a great people. 中华民族是一个伟大的民族。

56 peoples make up the big family of China. 56个民族构成中国这个大家庭。

2. 主语是指一类人的“the+形容词(或过去分词)”时，谓语动词通常用复数，这类词有：the brave, the poor, the rich, the blind, the young, the old, the sick, the dead, the deaf and dumb, the oppressed, the injured, the wounded, the unemployed等。另外，像the Chinese, the British, the Irish等表示一个国家或民族的人的总称，作主语时，谓语动词也用复数。如：

The injured were taken to hospital. 受伤的人都送进了医院。

The English do not drink much wine. 英国人不喝很多酒。

3. 形式上为复数，而意义上却是单数的名词，如news, mathematics, physics，politics, economics及以s结尾的书名、国名等作主语时，谓语动词用单数。如：

Mathematics is the language of science. 数学是科学语言。

His “Selected Poems” was first published in 1965. 他的诗歌选集最早是1965年出版的。