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The United States was vs The United States were

Both phrases are correct, but they are used in different contexts. 'The United States was' is used when referring to the country as a singular entity. 'The United States were' is used when referring to the country as a collection of states or a group of people. The choice between 'was' and 'were' depends on whether you are treating the United States as a singular or plural noun.

Explained by Jennifer
Editor at TextRanch

Last updated: January 06, 2025 • 8176 views

The United States was

This phrase is correct when referring to the United States as a singular entity.

Use 'the United States was' when talking about the country as a single entity or when focusing on the nation as a whole.

Examples:

The United States was founded in 1776.
During the war, the United States was a key ally.

Show examples from the web [+]
Last updated: November 24, 2024

Jun 5, 2023 ... ... the United States was founded. ... The Declaration of Independence expresses the ideals on which the United States was founded and the reasons for ...
Sep 21, 2021 ... The United States was built, in part, by immigrants—and the nation has long been the beneficiary of the new energy and ingenuity that ...
Apr 1, 2024 ... The United States was the world's largest liquefied natural gas exporter in 2023. monthly liquefied natural gas exports from selected ...
Sep 30, 2024 ... The United States was the major importer of Hawaiian agricultural products. Supported by John Stevens, the U.S. Minister to Hawaii, and a ...
May 6, 2008 ... ... the United States was also his enemy, stating that the FARC's fight against the United States was also his fight. During the meeting, Bout ...
A Deadly Drop in Rankings: How the United States Was Left Behind in Global Life Expectancy Trends ... Am J Public Health. 2023 Sep;113(9):961-963. doi: 10.2105/ ...
The United States was the first country to conclude a safeguards agreement with the IAEA, covering four research reactors and intended to help the IAEA ...
Feb 7, 2024 ... The First Bank of the United States was at the center of an argument over the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. NPS photo. After the ...
Jun 22, 2023 ... The White population in the United States was 260,570,291 in 2022, representing an increase of 0.1% or 388,779 people from 2021. In 2022 ...
The United States was the first country to recognize Israel as an independent state on May 14, 1948, when President Harry Truman issued a statement of ...

Alternatives:

the United States is
the United States has

The United States were

This phrase is correct when referring to the United States as a collection of states or a group of people.

Use 'the United States were' when emphasizing the individual states or the people within the country.

Examples:

The United States were divided on the issue.
In the past, the United States were not as powerful.

Show examples from the web [+]
Last updated: November 24, 2024

May 25, 2023 ... In 2020, about 1 in 6 people in the United States were age 65 and over. In 1920, this proportion was less than 1 in 20. The older population ...
May 9, 2024 ... It is estimated 3 to 4 million people in the United States were infected each year. Among reported measles cases each year, an estimated ...
Between 2015 and 2019, the leading causes of alcohol-attributable deaths due to chronic conditions in the United States were liver diseases (e.g., alcohol ...
Aug 10, 1988 ... More than 40 years ago, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living in the United States were ...
Jun 15, 2023 ... During the last decade, 36 percent (184,000) of refugees admitted to the United States were Muslim. Virtually all refugees from Somalia and ...
Jan 2, 2019 ... In 2011, nearly half (45%, or 2.8 million) of the 6.1 million pregnancies in the United States were unintended. Specifically, 27% of all ...
patterns of homelessness in the United States were in California (47% or 67,510 people). California accounts for nearly six in ten of all unsheltered.
Jun 18, 2024 ... The most recent data on the characteristics of people having clinician-provided abortions in the United States were collected in June 2021 ...
Jun 19, 2018 ... In 2015, more than 50 percent of the total withdrawals in the United States were accounted for by 12 States (California, Texas, Idaho ...
censuses of local jails in the United States were conducted. The 2021 ASJ used a stratified probability sample of 895 active jail jurisdictions nationwide ...

Alternatives:

the United States are
the United States have

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