"has" or "have"?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Some people enjoy sleeping in on the weekends but early morning singing by buskers have made it difficult for some Aljunied residents to rest.

  1. Is “the” necessary?

  2. Shouldn’t it be “has” instead of “have”?

Thanks.

2

It is optional. So it is OK with or without it.

I’m not sure, but I think either one can work. But if I must pick between the two, I’d pick has. It just sounds more natural to me.

The plural “buskers” can be ignored. The verb wants to agree with “singing”. The singing occurs on multiple mornings. It is something that happens repeatedly. But “singing” itself is singular even though it happens multiple times.

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3

I am just “thinking out loud”.

Not all “ing” words are gerunds. I have read that gerunds are always singular. I have also read that there are exceptions, but I have not seen any examples.

She is painting the painting.

The first painting in the above sentence can never be plural with an S no matter how you structure the sentence.

However the second painting can be plural.
She paints many paintings.

The equivalent with singing would be:
She is singing a song.
She sings many songs.

You can not structure a sentence with the plural singings. That word does not exist. If the language changes, potentially singings could take on the meaning of songs, but currently it is never used that way. So any use of singings would be incorrect.

I could be completely wrong on all this. I’m just thinking out loud…

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