Subject and Verb

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temico

#104578 Wed, 01 Jun 05 12:06 PM

Re: From what I have been reading and seeing in a lot of videos is reading is definitly the way to improve your english.

I believe that the above sentence is grammatically incorrect and should be corrected to:-

"From what I have been reading and seeing in a lot of videos, reading is definitly the way to improve your english." ( the first "is" should be omitted)

temico

Joined on Thu, Apr 21 2005

Full Member (274)

Mister Micawber

#104632 Wed, 01 Jun 05 03:43 PM

... And add an 'e' to 'definitely' and capitalize 'English'.

Mister Micawber

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004

Yokohama

Veteran Member (21,223)

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

jack112

#104902 Thu, 02 Jun 05 10:21 AM

1. In fact, scientists who study chatty human behaviour estimate that two-thirds of our conversations-including idle e-mail exchanges-are devoted to divulging secrets. (What's the subject here? I can't seem to figure it out. I think there are two subjects here. I can't figure out the secondary subject. The verb is 'are' for the secondary one right?

Thanks.

jack112

Joined on Thu, Jul 22 2004

Regular Member (715)

Verbs, Conversations

temico

#104955 Thu, 02 Jun 05 01:46 PM

Re: In fact, scientists who study chatty human behaviour estimate that two-thirds of our conversations-including idle e-mail exchanges-are devoted to divulging secrets.

i) In fact, scientists -----main subject
ii) who study chatty human behaviour ----adj. clause qualifying the noun "scientists"
iii) estimate ----main verb
iv) that two-thirds of our conversations are devoted to divulging secrets.---noun clause, object of the main verb "estimate".
v) -including idle e-mail exchanges- ----parenthetical phrase in the noun clause.

temico

Verbs, Conversations, Clauses, Nouns

Mister Micawber

#104982 Thu, 02 Jun 05 03:23 PM

The subject of 'are' is 'two-thirds', Jack.

Mister Micawber

jack112

#106231 Tue, 07 Jun 05 07:59 AM

1. Higher net gains from the sale of used vehicles (and a quicker sale) is all about leaving some 'potential value' on the table for the next owner to pursue. (Is 'is' correct here? What is the subject for 'is' ?)

Thanks.

jack112

Mister Micawber

#106251 Tue, 07 Jun 05 09:48 AM

'Gains' is the subject of 'is', Jack. It should be 'are', as 'gains' is plural, but you will find a few googled singulars-- 'gains' of one kind or another is often a line item on financial statements, likely leading some writers to consider it as a singular with plural form. For example, a 'capital gains tax', if 'gains' were a normal plural of 'gain', would more likely be represented as 'capital gain tax', since nouns normally take their singular form in forming adjectives in noun-noun structures.

Mister Micawber

Plurals, Nouns

jack112

#108802 Tue, 14 Jun 05 05:08 PM

1. Cars is what I need. (Is 'is' correct here? Is the subject for 'is' 'cars' ? I did a google search and nobody used 'are'. So is 'is' correct ? Why?)

Thanks.

jack112

Mister Micawber

#109016 Wed, 15 Jun 05 09:11 AM

You must be googling in Mongolia, Jack -- I get a million and a half hits for 'cars are', and 900,000 for 'cars is'. The latter figure is explained by looking at the grammar of the hits: the subject of 'cars is' is not 'cars', but a singular noun earlier in the sentences.

'Cars is what I need' is wrong. As always, a plural subject requires a plural verb: 'Cars are what I need.

Mister Micawber

Grammar, Verbs, Plurals, Nouns, Singular nouns, Plural subject

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