There are more than one seller + verb form?
My question is which sentence is correct?
- There is more than one seller claims that ...
- There are more than one seller claims that ...
- There is more than one seller claiming that ...
According to the accepted answer in this question, it seems that using there is
is correct. However, I don't know what is the suitable form for claim
.
The correct answer is #3:
There is more than one seller claiming...
First off, seller is still singular in this case.
According to this site:
When “more than one” modifies a singular noun, it goes with a singular verb: “More than one person is going.”
Then you have the question of the verb to claim.
When in doubt, I drop out optional bits that might be confusing things and see what I have. Since we know that "more than one seller" is singular, let's replace it with something simpler, such as "a hippopotamus":
There is a hippopotamus claims...
or
There is a hippopotamus claiming...
Now it's clear that because of the there is, it has to be claiming. You could, of course, restructure it thusly:
A hippopotamus claims...
or in your example:
More than one seller claims...
but if you want to use the there is, it has to be claiming