Plural or singular verb?

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Magda

#296476 Wed, 22 Nov 06 11:20 PM

Hi,
I have got a problem with such a sentence: "... he even doesn't know what an adjective and adverb is." Should I use the singular or plural verb?

Thank you.

Magda

Joined on Sat, Sep 9 2006

Full Member (445)

Verbs, Singular verbs, Plurals, Adverbs

Grammar Geek

#296492 Thu, 23 Nov 06 12:54 AM

Hi Magda,

Technically, you should use "are" because you have two things there. But it may sound a little off, because the noun that is right next to the verb is singular. To make it both sound correct as well as be correct, you could rewrite: "He doesn't even know what adjectives and adverbs are."

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,195)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Verbs, Singular verbs, Plurals, Nouns, Adverbs

Marius Hancu

#296516 Thu, 23 Nov 06 03:57 AM

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When two singular subjects are joined by and, the verb is normally plural.

Alice and Bob are going to be late.

Swan, Practical English Usage, singular and plural, coordinated subjects, p. 509
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When two subjects are joined by or, the verb is normally usually singular if the 2nd subject is singular, and plural if it is plural. Compare:

The room's too crowded -- either two chairs or a table has got to be moved out.
The room's too crowded -- either a table or two chairs have got to be moved out.

Swan, Practical English Usage, singular and plural, coordinated subjects, p. 509
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Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,673)

Verbs, Singular verbs, Plurals

Magda

#296854 Thu, 23 Nov 06 07:23 PM

Thanks, Marius.
I will keep this rule in mind. What I am puzzled by, however, is the fact that either of the examples you gave me doesn't refer exactly to the sentence I gave.
In your first example, we deal with proper names, no articles there, and in the second one, with one noun in plural and the other in singular.
If I kept this rule in my sentence, I should write "He doesn't even know what an adjective and adverb are," which sounds strange to me because of the indefinite article.
Of course, I will take GG advice and write "adjectives" and "adverbs", but that doesn't clarify my doubts I had in case of the original sentence Sad [:(]

.

Best regards Smile [:)]

Magda

Regards, Articles, Verbs, Singular verbs, Plurals, Nouns, Adverbs, Indefinite articles, Definite articles

Anonymous

#303964 Thu, 14 Dec 06 09:43 PM

plural for book

paper

pencil

toy

hat

car

ring

marker

cupcake

mitten

Anonymous

Verbs, Singular verbs, Plurals

Mister Micawber

#304019 Thu, 14 Dec 06 11:51 PM

Add S.

Mister Micawber

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004

Yokohama

Veteran Member (20,199)

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

Verbs, Singular verbs, Plurals

Anonymous

#348695 Mon, 09 Apr 07 02:15 PM

I think the answer to your original question, Magda, is that if you want to keep your original sentence, just change "is" to "are". The thing is, it's an unusual sentence, so Grammar Geek gave you a more common one. I don't think many native English speakers would know with 100% certainty which verb to use in your sentence, probably because it's an unusual construction. But I guess Grammar Geek is saying that it should be "He even doesn't know what an adjective and adverb are." I would have probably written "He doesn't even know what an adjective or an adverb is." I think that retains the same meaning, and it sounds more natural. But if you want to keep your original sentence, you should just use "are."

Na razie,

Matt, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Anonymous

Grammar, Verbs, Singular verbs, Plurals, Constructions, Adverbs

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