Is a plural name singular or plural?
I'm writing a book where the characters visit a stone circle called "The Nine Stones".
This is a single place, but named for the 9 stones that form the circle.
Should it be plural or singular in this sentence?
The Nine Stones was 90 miles east of Plymouth
vs
The Nine Stones were 90 miles east of Plymouth
I can see arguments both ways.
Solution 1:
Although there is a general rule to treat a title etc as singular, no matter what the form
- 'The Lord of the Rings' is my favourite book.
- 'The Borrowers' was a good film.
- Partington Brothers was founded in 1899.
and this also applies to towns, regions etc
- Alice Springs really owes its existence to the railway.
- The Balkans is a lovely region for holidays.
there is a complication with sites displaying an obvious plurality of standing stones and the like
The Standing Stones of Stenness is a Neolithic monument five miles northeast of Stromness on the mainland of Orkney, Scotland. [Wikipedia]
The Cliffs of Moher is located on the west coast of Ireland close to Liscannor village in Co. Clare. [link for Burren.ie]
but
The Calanais Standing Stones are an extraordinary cross-shaped setting of stones erected 5,000 years ago. They predate England’s famous Stonehenge monument, and were an important place for ritual activity for at least 2,000 years. [Historic Scotland]
The Cliffs of Moher are sea cliffs located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region in County Clare, Ireland. [Wikipedia]
This is evidently a case of logical rather than prescriptive agreement: when the monument as a whole is envisaged, a singular verb form is chosen, but when the individual members of the array are envisaged, a plural verb form is chosen.
Neither can be considered incorrect.
But in the sentence you give, the singular verb form is indicated as you are referencing the site. The proper name would be better in italics or inverted commas, as a title/name perhaps rather less identifiable as such than those above.
Solution 2:
Three Rivers is the name of a city in Michigan, it takes the singular because it is the town which has three rivers.
If we wrote the following
The three rivers are in southwestern Michigan.
the meaning changes. Note the lack of uppercase letters in "three rivers", using lowercase letters and the plural verb avoids confusion.
Using a cardinal number with a common noun such as the OP's nine stones, and three rivers, we have another real-life example
Seven Sisters is a famous road and underground station in North London.
However, the plural verb is used when referring to the cliffs in Sussex, England.
The Seven Sisters are a series of chalk cliffs by the English Channel. (Wikipedia)
Similarly
The Seven Sisters Cliffs in England are quietly famous. They’re the tallest chalk cliffs in England and one of the most spectacular coastlines in the whole of the UK. (Passport Collective)
The plural noun is also retained for the Norwegian mountain range Seven Sisters which according to legend were seven troll sisters turned into stone by the morning sun.
The Seven Sisters are all so close that a good hiker can climb them all in a single day. The Norwegian Trekking Association estimates that a fit walker should take just under thirteen hours to complete the 27 kilometre hike,… (Hurtigruten)