Grammar Help, Is or Are?

The many answers saying "is" are all correct.

There is no need to waffle around and add things like "comprised" or "is made up of a group of his peers," etc., as some posters suggest. Those constructions only add needless words! I'm an editor, and I would cut out those extra words and go with this: "His audience is his academic peers."

You already know the answer by now, I just wanted to note that you got FIFTEEN answers for this question.
Dunno. For some reason, that tickled me.

This is actually a tricky one! The Chicago Manual of Style says a mass noun (a singular noun describing a group, e.g., "audience," "populace," "faculty," "Congress") "may take either a singular or a plural verb form {the ruling majority is unlikely to share power} {the majority are nonmembers}. A singular verb emphasizes the group; a plural verb emphasizes the individual members" (5.8, 16th ed).

In this case, I think "The audience is his academic peers" would be more appropriate, since you're not distinguishing among audience members.

Regards,

Mira the Editor

I say "is" because it is one audience.

Jane:

It's grammar - not grammer.

"His audience IS his academic peers"

is.
unless he has a plethora of audiences.
:) khairete
S.

Totally "is" and, ahem...grammAr, not grammEr...just so you know!
Have a good one!

Audience is, although audience is made up of plural people it is a singular subject.

*shakes fist at GMAT people for making me learn this*

Grammar! :p

"Is" because audience is singular.

I would actually change it:
The audience is made up of his academic peers.
or
This is an audience of his academic peers.
Now sure why, just sounds better to me!
p.s. it's grammar, not grammer :)

'His audience is his academic peers' is correct.

If the subject is singular, the verb should be singular as well.

Maybe some spelling help too? ;-)

"grammar"

Time for some coffee?

I would phrase it as, "His audience is comprised of his academic peers." Another option would be "His audience consists of his academic peers." Sorry if I am repeating, I didn't read any of the other responses.

Is. The word "audience" is singular. Same as you would say "The group is going to the movies" or "The family is celebrating Mom's birthday."

I'm just so happy to see there are still people out there who care about grammar!

In American English it's "is."

But the Brits would say "are."

"Audience" is one of those funny words, like "jury." It can be taken either as a singular unit, because there's only one audience, or as a plural because there are lots of units within the audience.

I think it would be better to say or write, "His audience is made up of his academic peers." Sometimes rewriting the sentence is the easiest way to solve the problem.

(I get fuzzy-brained, too, but the word is GRAMMAR, not GRAMMER. Just saying.)

I agree that this is not a very well-constructed sentence. I would be able to help you better by fully understanding the point you are trying to convey, however I think MommyR has very valid suggestions.

Based on this alone, it would be:

His audience is his academic peers.

or

His audiences are his academic peers.

The correct formation of the sentence would be neither. It would be something like -

His audience comprises his academic peers.
Or
His academic peers comprise his audience.
Or
His audience is a group of his academic peers.

You're not referring to the peers, but the audience. How many audiences are there? Just one, so you would use "is."

Also, "grammar." :-)

The subject is "audience." It is singular. "Is" is the matching singular verb. Verbs need to match the subject as far as being singular or plural.
If the sentence subject was "audience and fans" (plural subject) then you would use "are" since are is the plural verb.

I'm not a grammar pro, and forgive me because I don't know the complete context of the sentence, but I think "The audience is his academic peers" sounds better. His and his seems too redundant.

Either way, "is" would be the correct choice.

Have a great day! :)

ETA: Sorry, I hit "post" before I saw Mira's advice. I agree with her!