Your understanding of the finer points of the English language often reveals itself in your use of mundane words like was and were. That's why we have a *couple* of quizzes that cover trickier rules about these verbs. Before we break down last week's quiz, though, we wanted to remind you that today is the last day to apply to be part of Stylebot's beta-testing program. This is your chance to shape our next product to fit your needs. Apply here now.

OK, so how did you do on last week's quiz? Most of you went with "was":

We got the opposite result when we posted this question on LinkedIn, where most people chose "were." So what is going on here?

The short answer is that it's not always correct to use "was" with "couple," nor is it always correct to use "were." It depends on the context.

Here's how we explain it in Stylebot's style guide entry: Are you writing about the couple doing something together or to each other, or are you referring to them as a unit?

Most of the time, it's the former. The sentence in last week's quiz is similar to the one in our style guide, which reads: "The couple were married for five years before they decided to divorce." So our answer is "were."

However, it's not wrong to use "was." You could make a case that they're acting as a unit in a marriage. But they've each decided to join together to create a unit, and only when they do things together as that unit should you use singular verbs. Here's the example sentence in our style guide: "Each couple is bringing a casserole to the party."

All right, now onto our next use case for "was" vs. "were":

This question reminds us that spring has officially begun — and that it's not capitalized. Hope the season is off to a great start for you 🌸🌱

❤ Team Stylebot

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