are or is ????

[at.ouchen]

good day
in the idiom section of the manhattan SC page 166 I found the following sentence

RISING prices at the gas pump are hurting consumers.

Why isn't it
RISING prices at the gas pump is hurting consumers
???

Many thanks in advance

[li.xi811]

The subject is rising prices, not rising, so are is required to match the plural subject.

[RonPurewal]

good day
in the idiom section of the manhattan SC page 166 I found the following sentence

RISING prices at the gas pump are hurting consumers.

Why isn't it
RISING prices at the gas pump is hurting consumers
???

Many thanks in advance

"Rise" can't have an object"”in other words, it's impossible to say I rise something"”so that construction isn't possible.

You can only use verbING + noun as the subject of the sentence if the noun can be an object"”i.e., if someone can "verb the noun".

E.g.,
Doing that is a bad idea.
--> Don't do that.
--> I did that.
If you can't make this kind of conversion, then verbING + noun is not the subject.

[RonPurewal]

By the way, this idea has nothing to do with idioms, so I'm left wondering why it would be in an idioms chapter. Hm.

[at.ouchen]

Thanks Ron, it's very clear now, you nail it.

[scottmiddlecote]

Thanks Ron, that seems right!

[RonPurewal]

Great.