That's what I thought at first, but O'Connor's argument is that the subject is plural, as in "A couple/number of deadbeats live next door."

If variety is plural, why does the word "varieties" exist?

Or is the argument that it's sort of a collective noun?

That's what I thought at first, but O'Connor's argument is that the subject is plural, as in "A couple/number of deadbeats live next door."

Hmm. What would Strunk & White do?

Lunch plans: either the Cuban sandwich at Birley or the jambalaya at Briazz.

I think the jambalaya would make you sleepier in the afternoon than the Cuban, but I could be talking out of my ass.

I think the Cuban, but that is because I love cubans.

I think the jambalaya would make you sleepier in the afternoon than the Cuban, but I could be talking out of my ass.

I think the Cuban is a little heavier since it's pork and the jambalay is chicken and sausage. Neither really makes me droopy though.

I think the Cuban, but that is because I love cubans.

Come visit me, I'll buy you one! These are the best I've ever had (and I grew up in Miami with lots of Cuban sandwich opportunities). The pork is just so well cooked. Way better than you'd expect for a sandwich.

Or is the argument that it's sort of a collective noun?

I think so (i.e., that it is the number of activities that is important, not the variety).

The ambiguity is over whether you mean "A _____ of ____" in the collective sense or not. A bunch of people gets the plural, but a herd of cattle gets the singular. Because it's ambiguous, I would rephrase the whole sentence.

Matilda's goose egg looks quite horrid.

When my brother (named Nate) was a toddler, he was nicknamed Natty Bumpo (i.e. Leatherstocking from the Leatherstocking Tales) because he always had a goose egg in the middle of his forehead. This culminated, by adulthood, with three different sets of stitches in his head, and no stitches anywhere in the rest of his body.

At 29, he is surprisingly still alive.

Because it's ambiguous, I would rephrase the whole sentence.

Waffler!

Separate varieties? Like, a variety of cheeses and also a variety of lunchmeat options? Yes, I'm hungry, why do you ask?

Okay, leftover spaghetti, but walking over to the local bakery to lounge around and drink coffee and eat way too delicious pastries. Under the guise of holding a business meeting. Gotta love it.

Especially since we had a nearly completely wasted morning, and it's now raining and therefore my exposed floor and western wall are getting all wet and also no work is being done. And the forecast is for the rain to continue all week until Friday, when massive winds should hit. And then it should clear up for the weekend. When they won't work.

Oh well. Coffee, pastries.

One variety, two deadbeats. Unless by "a couple," you mean married or equivalent.

Because it's ambiguous, I would rephrase the whole sentence.

I'm just tired of rewriting these authors (they are native French speakers so there is much tweaking to be done).

Now I'm just intrigued. If one were to use "number" instead of "variety" would that change things?

Here's the whole sentence as it now stands:
A variety of communicative activities follows in order to allow the student ample opportunity to work with and acquire the new vocabulary.