Expression "A group of old men..."

[Brahman]

I first wrote the sentence, "A group of old men was playing chess", and on second thoughts, I changed it to, ".... were playing chess". Could I say that both are grammatically correct?

[Alan]

Hi,

Yes, both are acceptable. It depends whether you consider the 'old men' just as a group (was) or as individuals (were). If by 'group'you men 'several' , then I would choose 'were'.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple