By now this question has probably already been answered, but if not: neuter
plural subjects regularly take singular verbs in classical Attic and
earlier Greek. That rule is observed by most Koine writers also, although
one will sometimes see a plural verb with a neuter plural subject.
Underlying this practice is probably a view of that short-A ending (which
appears as Eta as result of vowel contraction in the neuter-plurals in Eta)
as a collectivity. This is idiomatic, but it is standard ancient Greek.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(704) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/