student asking question

How come "is" was used here where "the hopes" is a plural form?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

This is a grammatical error of the speaker. The sentence should be "The hope is that once consumers get inside the restaurant..." or "The hopes are that once consumers get inside the restaurant..." Using incorrect grammar is fairly common in spoken English. When speaking, especially in an informal setting, many native speakers don't focus on the grammatical aspect of English. They just say what they want to say and are typically understood. This is common in English slang and idiomatic expressions.

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