You are right about the verb but wrong about the why. In your sentence, “that” (and “it” in your broken down version) refers to the singular word group, not cliche.
It’s a group that, not a cliche that .
A group HAS BEEN not have been so grammarly is, in fact, incorrect.
You're right, Grammarly is wrong. I'm not going into why you're right, but here's how Grammarly got it wrong. Grammarly is not a person sitting there reviewing your writing. Grammarly is an AI algorithm looking for certain things on which it has been trained. It's understandable that Grammarly chose the noun closest to the verb. It's wrong, but it's understandable. With more training, Grammarly may someday be able to discern that your phrase "group of words" is what owns the verb, rather than the single word "words," but that day is not today.
Now imagine what is going in the heads of non-native English writers who know that they are right -- the verb to put in your sentence is definitely "has"! -- but this omnipotent and soulless Grammarly says otherwise 🙈🙈🙈 But that's what I love about writing in English: I should always be on my guard! Thank you for your blog, by the way. I'm really -- on "really", Grammarly would definitely roll its eyes -- enjoying it!
Grammerly isn't wrong and neither were you. Here's an easy way to figure out which word--has or have--to use.
When the subject is followed by a prepositional phrase, remove the phrase, then decide. In this case, the subject is group, which could be singular or plural, but I prefer singular. That means has is correct.
But have is also correct if you consider "group" to be plural.
You are right about the verb but wrong about the why. In your sentence, “that” (and “it” in your broken down version) refers to the singular word group, not cliche.
It’s a group that, not a cliche that .
A group HAS BEEN not have been so grammarly is, in fact, incorrect.
Ah! You're absolutely right. Going to correct this and credit you.
You're right, Grammarly is wrong. I'm not going into why you're right, but here's how Grammarly got it wrong. Grammarly is not a person sitting there reviewing your writing. Grammarly is an AI algorithm looking for certain things on which it has been trained. It's understandable that Grammarly chose the noun closest to the verb. It's wrong, but it's understandable. With more training, Grammarly may someday be able to discern that your phrase "group of words" is what owns the verb, rather than the single word "words," but that day is not today.
Now imagine what is going in the heads of non-native English writers who know that they are right -- the verb to put in your sentence is definitely "has"! -- but this omnipotent and soulless Grammarly says otherwise 🙈🙈🙈 But that's what I love about writing in English: I should always be on my guard! Thank you for your blog, by the way. I'm really -- on "really", Grammarly would definitely roll its eyes -- enjoying it!
Grammerly isn't wrong and neither were you. Here's an easy way to figure out which word--has or have--to use.
When the subject is followed by a prepositional phrase, remove the phrase, then decide. In this case, the subject is group, which could be singular or plural, but I prefer singular. That means has is correct.
But have is also correct if you consider "group" to be plural.
Clear as mud?
I love me a grammar battle - love the one going about the use of "I" and "me" inShrinking.