A total of ... was/were

[herbivorie]

A total of 46% of the participants was/were from Tokyo.

In the above sentence, which should I use, was or were?
It should depends of the subject, but I'm not sure which of "total", "46%", or "subjects" is the subject.

(I asked this to two American people. One said it's "was", and the other said it's "were".:-( I look forward to a reply from other native speakers.)

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

This is the sort of question that will probably elicit different answers from BrE and AmE speakers.

As far as I am concerned, if the percentage is of something countable then the verb is in the plural. If it's a percentage of something uncountable you use the singular.

So, 'A total of 46% of the participants were from Tokyo' but 'A total of 46% of the economy is generated in Tokyo'.

 

[MikeNewYork]

When the subject is a part of the whole, the object of the following preposition usually determines the number of the verb. In your sentence, I would use "were".

 

[José Manuel Rosón Bravo]

[Not a teacher]

https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/195024-suffer-or-suffers/page2

 

[MikeNewYork]

Good citation, even if I do say so myself. :up:

 

[herbivorie]

Thank you all.
Let me just confirm.
What's the subject of this sentence? 46%?

 

[MikeNewYork]

The subject is "total".