The grammar crime:
The subject of a sentence must agree with the verb of the sentence.
They must agree in two ways:
· in number: singular vs. plural
· in person: first, second, or third person |
Question: How do we know we
have disagreement between the subject and verb?
Outlaw: They is my favourite
Canadian authors.
· The subject: They (plural)
· The verb: is (singular)
· The subject and verb disagree in number. Therefore, this is
a subject-verb disagreement outlaw.
Question: How do we catch subject-verb
disagreement?
The following are six situations in which subject-verb disagreement
errors can be more difficult to spot.
1. When the subject and verb are separated
· Find the subject and verb and make sure they agree.
· Ignore the words in-between because they do not affect agreement.
| Outlaw |
Rehabilitated |
| The characters in Shakespeare’s Twelfth
Night lives in a world that has been turned
upside-down. |
The characters in Shakespeare’s Twelfth
Night live in a world that has been turned
upside-down. |
|
2. Compound subjects
· If the two subjects are joined by “and” the verb will be plural
in most situations
exception: when the joined subjects are preceded
by “every,” “no,” or “nothing”
· If the subjects are joined by “nor” or “or,” the verb agrees
with the closer subject (the last one)
| Outlaw |
Rehabilitated |
| Neither Edna’s neighbours nor her husbandagree
with her decision. |
Neither Edna’s neighbours nor her husbandagrees
with her decision. |
|
3. Indefinite pronouns
· single indefinite pronoun: e.g., anyone, anybody, each, either,
none
o They use singular verbs.
· plural indefinite pronouns: both, few, many, several
o They use plural verbs.
· All, any, most, and some depend on the situation. They can
be either singular or plural.
| Outlaw |
Rehabilitated |
| Both of the main characters in Waiting
for Godot believes Godot is the purpose of
life. |
Both of the main characters in Waiting
for Godot believe Godot is the purpose of
life. |
|
4. Collective nouns
· These are nouns that are singular in form, but plural in meaning.
· Examples: band, minority, majority, class, community, dozen,
family, public, team
· When they act as one entity, use a singular verb.
· When they do separate things, use a plural verb, BUT it is
easier to reword the sentence. For example, write “the members of the team”
instead of “the team.”
| Outlaw |
Rehabilitated |
| The majority of English majors read
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness while at university. |
The majority of English majors
reads Conrad’s Heart of Darkness while at university. |
|
5. Plural nouns that are singular in meaning
· Some plural nouns take singular verbs (See your
grammar for more specific details as to the use of singular versus plural),
for example:
athletics, economics, politics, news, mumps, and measles.
| Outlaw |
Rehabilitated |
| Politics are an
issue in all the newspaper articles on the EU |
Politics is an issue in all the newspaper
articles on the EU |
|
6. Titles
· When used in sentences, the titles of books, plays, poems, movies,
and so on are singular.
| Outlaw |
Rehabilitated |
| Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children are
an interesting novel. |
Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children is an
interesting novel. |
|
|
