tastes:singular or plural noun?

Question

His tastes in movies is bad.
His tastes in movies are bad.

Could u pls tell me which one is correct?
I am not sure either tastes is a singular or plural noun.
Thank u 4 ur time! ^_^

Answer 1

"Taste" in you context is colloquially used only in the singular.
So you would say "His taste in movies is bad."
The rule is that if you have a sentence with the noun in the plural, you also have to use the plural form of the verb.
This is not necessarily the case for all singular nouns, collective nouns like "family" etc are mostly used with the plural form of the verb.

Answer 2

Well, I'm not a native speaker of English, but I've been studying it for 11 years. I would say that "couple" is the same case as for example family, or police. You can say "the police have arrested the offender" or you can say "the police has arrested the offender", it doesn't really matter which way you choose. What I found in the Free Online Dictionary (which is a very good online dictionary, by the way) is, that if you're referring to the members of a couple individually, you should use plural forms of verbs, and if you're referring to them collectively, you should use singular forms of verbs. I suggest you read the usage note in the dictionary, I'm putting the link into the sources.

Answer 3

His tastes...are.. (plural).

However, you'd be more likely to hear "His taste in movies is bad," because 'taste' is singular.

Answer 4

This would be a plural prnoun. Nouns are always capitalized and signify a proper name.

Answer 5

The second one is correct, 'cause it's plural.

Answer 6

"Taste" is normally singular:
His taste in movies is bad.
He has bad taste in movies.

But it can also be plural:
She has very expensive tastes.