Unfortunately, dishonest politics (was, were) used to win the election.
Which to select and why?
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ââŚpolitics was usedâŚâ because politics is usually treated as a singular noun similar to ânewsâ.
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I would go for the plural (were) because, here, the word âpoliticsâ means political manipulations or activities. Usually, it is treated as the name of a subject of study or a domain of service or occupation, in which case it is used with the singular verb.
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I tend to think of politics as the collection of political actions and philosophy, and so it would be singular.
The term dishonest politics is a bit confusing to me because I think of politics not as just a collection of actions, but including the politicianâs philosophy and goals. Here, I think the writer is talking about specific political actions that were part of the campaign, and maybe that would be a better term. Others terms could be dirty politics and dirty tricks,
(Iâm surprised nobody proposed that dishonest politics is redundant. I certainly wouldnât say that, of course.)
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