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La mayoría de los fragmentos fueron separados con la espátula.

La mayoría de los fragmentos fueron separados con la espátula.
The majority of the fragments were separated with the spatula.
From Lesson 445:Collective agreement (la mayoría de)·Spanish (Latin America)

Breakdown of La mayoría de los fragmentos fueron separados con la espátula.

ser
to be
de
from / of
con
with
separar
to separate
la mayoría
the majority
la espátula
spatula
el fragmento
fragment

Questions & Answers about La mayoría de los fragmentos fueron separados con la espátula.

Why is the verb fueron plural if the subject starts with the singular noun La mayoría?
This is an example of agreement by sense (concordancia ad sensum). When a singular collective phrase like La mayoría de is followed by a plural noun like los fragmentos, the verb is conjugated in the plural to match the actual items being discussed.
Why is the past participle separados masculine and plural instead of matching the feminine singular La mayoría?
In passive voice sentences using this kind of collective agreement, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the specific plural noun. Since los fragmentos is masculine and plural, we use separados.
Could I use a singular verb here and say fue separada since mayoría is technically singular?
Grammatically, using the singular to strictly match La mayoría is allowed in Spanish, but it sounds very rigid and formal. Native speakers overwhelmingly prefer the plural verb when a plural noun like los fragmentos is explicitly mentioned in the phrase.
Why use fueron (from ser) here instead of estuvieron (from estar)?
We use ser to form the true passive voice because it emphasizes the action taking place (someone actively separating the fragments with a spatula). If we used estuvieron, it would simply describe the physical state of the fragments after the action was already finished.

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