Search results for 'tag:Commas tag:Singular verbs' matching tags 'Commas' and 'Singular verbs'

Re: This small clip consists of different pictures spliced together...

Avangi — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:50:16 GMT

<< This small clip consists of different pictures spliced together which make the coin look as if it were moving on its own. >>

It's difficult to make "spliced together" the thing referred to by the "which" clause. I think "different pictures spliced together" must be taken as a unit, followed by a comma, and would then take the singular verb "makes."

Alternately, you could say, ". . . . different pictures spliced together [in such a way as] to make the coin look as if it were moving . . . . . ", using the infinitive "to make." It's a bit cumbersome.

Jackson, I'm sorry, I completely misunderstood your objection to "pictures" or "clip" as the reference for the "which" clause. I thought you were making a point about whether the coin really moved on its own or merely seemed to do so.

If your intention or desire is to stress that it's the splicing that brings it off, that should be allowed.

correct this please

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:26:16 GMT

Hi,

Please correct this. Is the comma before 'ready' OK?

Hi, I hope you all had very relaxing holidays and are back in your work places, ready to work on new assignments... Our thanks go (goes??) to John Doe for his remarkable work on making sure every sector of our company works to its potential.

Does 'thanks' go with a plural verb or singular verb?

Re: Help Me! Will someone please edit my paragraph?

Feebs11 — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:37:50 GMT

Bilsonx wrote:
Ok well I fixed most of the basic stuff you said. Could you maybe tell me how i could fix the others?

My first Wreck in my new car

My friend Brandon and I was [plural subjects!] driving home from school one day when I had my frist wreck in my new car. I was driving down North Point Rd., the roads were really bad, I did not go over forty miles an hour on the way up to Zanesville and I was continuing to not go over forty miles an hour on the way home. A semi was driving toward me and I didnât think anything of it, but when he passed me the wind from his truck pushed the front of my car and cause me to lose control. I tried my best to save it but there was no hope. We spun around in circles a few times and slid off the road and down over a steep hill. After the car stopped me and Brandon started laughing for some reason, I think it was just because we were happy to be alive. After we got done laughing and came back to our since [meaningless - try again] we got out of the car and attempted to walk up the hill that the car had just slid down. I got halfway up it and slid back down and fell over my car onto the other side. Brandon was laughing. It was a little painful but I did not get seriously hurt. Then I attempted to get up the hill again and somehow succeeded. When I got to the top of the hill my friend Michaelâs dad Joe was standing there and asked if we were ok. He called 911 for us and reported it while I called the tow truck to get us out. After we waited in Joeâs truck for an hour the cops finally showed up. I was kind of scared that I was going to get sided for the wreck and get a ticket, but when the cop noticed that there was no damage done to my car he said he didnât even need to fill out a report, and as long as I had a tow truck coming they were leaving. Once the cops left we had to wait another twenty minutes in Joeâs truck before the tow truck got there. He pulled my car up the hill for us and we headed home. I am just happy that my car was not damaged nor was Brandon and I hurt [plural subjects!]. After this close call I have learned to drive super careful in the snow and slow down when bigger size vehicles are passing when the weather conditions are bad.

As a piece of narrative writing, it is quite lively. In this kind of writing, colloquial language can be perfectly acceptable.

You do need to work on using the right punctuation - use periods/full stops rather than commas. Your use of singular verb with plural subjects needs to change, and there is one sentence that makes no sense.

Re: Review Help

Feebs11 — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:15:15 GMT

1 The subject here is the percentage returned, not the questionnaires = singular verb required

2: Is there more than one firm involved? Or is only one involved = firms' OR firm's

3 you have identified the error correctly, and introduced a new one - president is here a title, so should be capitalized

4 OK
5 OK
6 OK
7 OK

8 I would question the commas in this one, and leave the capital letters alone

9 OK
10 OK

Re: Subject and Verb

Grammar Geek — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 14:40:27 GMT

The way I first read it, by setting off the "mostly written in C" with the commas, you are making it additional or parenthetical information. So the kernel is the subject. And as a singular word, you need the singular verb form, communicates.

But on a second reading, I thought that perhaps routines are supposed to be the things that communicate, not the kernel. (Perhaps your readers would know that? Kernels are things I turn into popcorn.) But as it is, the construction leads to ambiguity.

Try one of these, depending on what the real meaning is:

The kernel comprises a set of routines mostly written in C and communicates with the hardware directly. Here the kernel comprises and communicates.

The kernel comprises a set of routines, which are mostly written in C and communicate with the hardware directly. Here the routes are written in C and communite.

Re: Which one

davkett — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 14:13:47 GMT

Jack112 wrote:

5. The list of sentences are separated by commas. (With 'are' I'm referring to each sentence that is separated by commas?)
6. The list of sentences is separated by commas. (With 'is' I'm referring to the list that is separated by commas?)
Neither of these sound right to me. The subject of both sentences is the singular 'list'. It takes a singular verb, and cannot be separated by commas. Only the sentences in the list are plural and are separated by commas.

How come #1 is right and the subject is not 'vast majority', it is 'cases' and #5 in the quote is wrong? My question is, how exactly do I determine what I use for the subject? What does it depend on?

1. Experts believe the vast majority of cases are caused by a complex combination of genetic and non-genetic influences.

2. Experts believe the vast majority of cases is caused by a complex combination of genetic and non-genetic influences. (This is wrong with 'is' but #5 in the quote is right? Why is that?)

Thanks.

EDIT: We might have to get a grammarian involved on this type of question. I might offer a guess that list is a different kind of noun than majority. One is a concrete object, the other is an abstract quantity...carrying perhaps more of an adjectival weight.

Re: Which one

jack112 — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 09:01:17 GMT

5. The list of sentences are separated by commas. (With 'are' I'm referring to each sentence that is separated by commas?)
6. The list of sentences is separated by commas. (With 'is' I'm referring to the list that is separated by commas?)
Neither of these sound right to me. The subject of both sentences is the singular 'list'. It takes a singular verb, and cannot be separated by commas. Only the sentences in the list are plural and are separated by commas.

How come #1 is right and the subject is not 'vast majority', it is 'cases' and #5 in the quote is wrong? My question is, how exactly do I determine what I use for the subject? What does it depend on?

1. Experts believe the vast majority of cases are caused by a complex combination of genetic and non-genetic influences.

2. Experts believe the vast majority of cases is caused by a complex combination of genetic and non-genetic influences. (This is wrong with 'is' but #5 in the quote is right? Why is that?)

Thanks.

Re: Which one

davkett — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 22:30:10 GMT

Jack112 wrote:

Scenario: I have a list of sentences that I have to determine if they are correct. And the book asks me this:

1. For the following sentences, determine which (one) of the following statements is valid. (Is 'one' omitted here? YES 'is' is referring to 'one' ? YES Is this sentence asking me to look for only one correct sentence or more than one? ONE If more than one, shouldn't it be #2?) YES

2. For the following sentences, determine which (ones) of the following statements are valid. (Is this better than #1? Only if there are multiple valid sentences. For the list of sentences, there are more than one correct sentence, so is this one better than #1? YES Or both #1 and #2 mean the same thing?) NO

Are they correct? What do these ones mean?

3. For the list of sentences, there is more than one correct sentence. (Is 'list' the subject for 'is' ?) NO

4. For the list of sentences, there are more than one correct sentence. 'are more than one correct sentence' sounds odd to me; 'is more than one' sounds better.

For sentence structures like these, I could use either 'are' or 'is' right?

5. The list of sentences are separated by commas. (With 'are' I'm referring to each sentence that is separated by commas?)
6. The list of sentences is separated by commas. (With 'is' I'm referring to the list that is separated by commas?)
Neither of these sound right to me. The subject of both sentences is the singular 'list'. It takes a singular verb, and cannot be separated by commas. Only the sentences in the list are plural and are separated by commas.

Thanks a bunch!