which is the subject in this sentence? Grammar help

Hmmmm..... well, I put your sentence in Word2010 and it didn't have a problem with it. You are correct, the subject of the sentence is chances, not dvd. The word dvd is the subject of the prepositional phrase beginning with the word of. If you remove the prepositional phrase "of having best yoga dvd", it's a little easier to see the parts. Without this part of the sentence, your sentence makes complete sense. However, it could be worded a little clearer. In your prepositional phrase "of having best yoga dvd", you need some type of article before the word best. The word the would probably be best. But this is not the biggest problem with the sentence. The word tough is not normally used as it was used in this sentence. That might be what was throwing off Word when you checked it. If what you mean by this sentence is that it would be easy to have the best yoga dvd, it should read something like, "The chances of having the best yoga dvd are high." If you mean the opposite, that it would be difficult to do, it should read something like, "The chances of having the best yoga dvd aren't good (you could also say not high)". When we think of the word chances, we're talking about numbers. So we would talk about high and low. Chances also talk about the liklihood of something happening. So we would talk about good or fair or a word similar to that. But tough describes how hard something is. We wouldn't say a number is hard. We wouldn't say the liklihood of something happening is hard.

You are correct in thinking that 'chances' is the subject of the verb and therefore, grammatically, your sentence is correct. The grammar checker in Word is rather limited and sometimes does not give the right answer because it does not check for clauses like 'of having best Yoga DVD' and merely looks for the nearest likely noun or pronoun before the verb. Here it has clearly noted that 'DVD' is in the singular. 'Chance' is a word which, here, means 'probability' or 'likelihood' (and might really be better replaced by one of those words). It should therefore itself be in the singular - there is only one mathematical number which expresses the chance of having the best Yoga DVD. As an actual number you might use a percentage expressed as 100 times 1 (= 'the best') divided by the total of all Yoga DVDs available). It is meaningless (at least, in this context) to say that a chance is 'tough'. A chance may be described as 'small', 'large', 'slim', 'fat' (a slang expression which normally means the exact opposite!), 'great' or 'overwhelming'. These are just some of the commonest adjectives and not all would be appropriate in your sentence. I presume that what you intend to say is that "The best Yoga DVD is not hard to find." [there are, presumably, a limited number of Yoga DVDs and that there are either a number of good ones - note that there can, strictly, only be one "best"! - or that the best Yoga DVD. There are many reasons why your sentence, as it stands, is poor English. It attempts to employ a slangy, overused and inaccurate metaphor which is also something of a "weasel word" (a word used in order to evade or retreat from a direct or forthright statement or position; often one which is common enough to be accepted by the listener without attention to its real meaning). When writing English, do not try to be clever or colloquial (unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing); always say exactly what you mean without using slang expressions and common platitudes. If what you want to say is that it is not difficult to find the best Yoga DVD, then say so (and go on to explain how and why). Also you should note that 'DVD' is an abbreviation and so is always in capital letters (though without full stops) and that Yoga is a particular discipline and therefore, arguably, a proper noun in this context (in an instructional text about Yoga, the word might legitimately be used without a capital letter as a noun or an adjective).

Word corrector is not always correct, you should bear that in mind. Actually, you are right, the subject is chances here is the subject, not dvd.

Hi Manasha Well if we take your example here. The sentence is "The chances of having best yoga dvd are not tough". Well I do agree with the sentence corrector. Here subject is dvd and hence "is" is the appropriate article. If you would have written dvds then I am pretty sure that it would not have shown those corrections. Anyways have a nice day ... +SuperShames+

for my part of view, having best yoga DVD should be the subject and it doesnot focus on chances. so the verb should be is, not are.

You are correct. the subject in your sentence is chances. The phrase 'of having best yoga dvd' is a subject modifier i.e. it adds information to your subject.

Here in your sentence, 'chances' is the subject which is pleural in number. So the verb should be 'are' and not 'is'. So your sentence is correct grammatically. So, you need not worry at all.