Hello.

My name is Jinny and I would very much appreciate your help with the following sentence involving the use of is/are.

...... if any of the 'Maybe' boxes is/are checked

I have received very mixed opinions on this. Some say that it should be 'are', including a translations department! Others, who are also qualified to know, are saying 'is'!

I'd appreciate your help with this...... before I go insane.

Thank you so much,
Jinny

Jinny,

there is often confusion over whether indefinite pronouns (like "any") are singular or plural. The one which causes the greatest headache is "none". There is a fair case for saying "none" is singular, because it is likely a contraction of "not one". There is no such ruling with "any" however. In my opinion, "are" is the best answer. Firstly, it sounds more natural - and there is a lot to be said for that. Don't let nay grammarians tell you differently. Secondly, if you imagine what word "any" is replacing, then most logical answers are plural words. The most obvious alternative to "any" would be "number". As a collective noun, this can plural or singular - it depends on the sense of the word in context. In most cases, the word number sits comfortably as a plural word, and I believe "any" is the same.

Therefore, "are" can be justified grammatically, and it sounds best. If there's a better case for "is", I'd love to hear it.

Incidentally, this has nothing to do with "...of the 'Maybe' boxes", it's all about the word "any".

(Please excuse the typos in my last post. I think it's still readable.)