'is' or 'are' -- need your confirmation...

[Hieupt]

Hi all,

I have the following sentence:

"The number of students who have withdrawn from class this quarter is/are appalling."

I think "is" is the correct one because we consider "the number of students" is a whole. And the reason we use "have" in the relative clause because it refers to "students" (plural nouns). Am I correct?

Thanks,
Hieu.
_________________
Thank you very much,
Hieu Phan.

P/s: Please just correct if I'm wrong somewhere!

[Lohaniumesh]

I think for number of students we should use "are" becouse those are more yhan one..

[SkiIucK]

You are correct, Hieu.

[Mister Micawber]

Strictly speaking, the rule is:

'The number of ... is'
'A number of ... are'
_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Minhhung143]

structures:
A number of + Plural noun + Plural verb

The number of + Plural noun + Singular verb

Reference:
http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/11/06/the-number-of-versus-a-number-of/