Correct the following sentences.

Incorrect: The news are too good to be true.
Correct: The news is too good to be true.

Incorrect: The wages of sin are death.
Correct: The wages of sin is death.

Incorrect: Politics are a dirty game.
Correct: Politics is a dirty game.

Incorrect: ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ are an interesting book.
Correct: ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ is an interesting book.

Some nouns are plural in form but singular in meaning. Examples are: news, wages, politics, mathematics, physics, measles etc. They should be followed by singular verbs.

Incorrect: A thousand dollars are not a small sum.
Correct: A thousand dollars is not a small sum.

Incorrect: A thousand dollars was distributed among the prize winners.
Correct: A thousand dollars were distributed among the prize winners.

Incorrect: Two thousand dollars are this advocate’s fee for a single appearance in the Supreme Court.
Correct: Two thousand dollars is this advocate’s fee for a single appearance in the Supreme Court.

When the subject is a sum of money considered as a whole, a singular verb is used. When the subject is a sum of money and the reference is to the currencies or coins considered separately, a plural verb is used.