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

Re: all is or all are

Yankee — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 01:25:12 GMT

I'd say 'all' can only be followed by a singular verb when the meaning of 'all' is 'everything' -- and that is probably limited to well-known expressions most of the time:

All is (not) lost.
All is forgiven.
All is fair in love and war.
All's well that ends well.
All is calm, all is bright.

Re: The majority of...

CalifJim — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 21:29:37 GMT

There is no difference in the agreement rules whether you use "a majority of" or "the majority of". These expressions are almost always followed by a plural noun and a plural verb, thus:

The majority of Americans believe ...
A majority of Brazilians say ...
The majority of students think ...

Once in a great while you will find these expressions followed by a singular noun and a singular verb, thus:

The majority of the population is Hispanic.
A majority of the Senate is voting for the measure.

You can't go wrong if you always make the agreement between the noun that follows majority of and the verb.

The majority of them are going.
The majority of people like to watch TV.

CJ

Re: Neither/nor 2 subjects+plural verb

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2007 11:29:43 GMT

How about :

"Neither he nor she drinks" or "Neither he nor she drink"

???

Marco wrote:
I tought we should use neither/nor with a singular verb when both of the subjects are singular:

Neither he nor she is happy.

Quote from the OED:

d. With two sing. subjects and pl. verb.
1759 Johnson Idler No. 44 _3 Neither search nor labour are necessary.
1777 Cowper Wks. (1837) XV. 37 Neither the Duke of Bedford nor Lord Sussex have cut yet.

e. neither..or. - special expression? (the text is in blue)

1786 A. M. Bennett Juvenile Indiscr. I. 70 Engaging to spare neither trouble or expence.
1830 W. Taylor Hist. Surv. Germ. Poetry III. 26 These modern antiques neither supply the interest of classical or of German poetry.
1874 G. W. Dasent Tales fr. Fjeld 204 Wasnât it true that he neither knew anything or could do anything?

Thanks.

Re: Neither/nor 2 subjects+plural verb

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2007 11:29:16 GMT

How about :

"Neither he nor she drinks" or "Neither he nor she drink"

???

Marco wrote:
I tought we should use neither/nor with a singular verb when both of the subjects are singular:

Neither he nor she is happy.

Quote from the OED:

d. With two sing. subjects and pl. verb.
1759 Johnson Idler No. 44 _3 Neither search nor labour are necessary.
1777 Cowper Wks. (1837) XV. 37 Neither the Duke of Bedford nor Lord Sussex have cut yet.

e. neither..or. - special expression? (the text is in blue)

1786 A. M. Bennett Juvenile Indiscr. I. 70 Engaging to spare neither trouble or expence.
1830 W. Taylor Hist. Surv. Germ. Poetry III. 26 These modern antiques neither supply the interest of classical or of German poetry.
1874 G. W. Dasent Tales fr. Fjeld 204 Wasnât it true that he neither knew anything or could do anything?

Thanks.

Re: Everybody & Everyone

Mister Micawber — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 05:53:13 GMT

Both are fine. Here is what the American Heritage Dictionary has to say:

USAGE NOTE: Every is representative of a large class of English words and expressions that are singular in form but felt to be plural in sense. The class includes, for example, noun phrases introduced by every, any, and certain uses of some. These expressions invariably take a singular verb; we say Every car has (not have) been tested. Anyone is (not are) liable to fall ill. But when a sentence contains a pronoun that refers to a previous noun phrase introduced by every, grammar and sense pull in different directions. The grammar of these expressions requires a singular pronoun, as in Every car must have its brakes tested, but the meaning often leads people to use the plural pronoun, as in Every car must have their brakes tested. The use of plural pronouns in such cases is common in speech, but it is still widely regarded as incorrect in writing. â¢The effort to adhere to the grammatical rule causes complications, however. The first is grammatical. When a pronoun refers to a phrase containing every or any that falls within a different independent clause, the pronoun cannot be singular. Thus it is not idiomatic to say Every man left; he took his raincoat with him. Nor can one say No one could be seen, could he? Writers unwilling to use plural forms in these examples must find another way of expressing their meaning, either by rephrasing the sentence so as to get the pronoun into the same clause (as in Every man left, taking his raincoat with him) or by substituting another word for every or any (as in All the men left; they took their raincoats with them).

Re: a large number of

Yoong Liat — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 19:08:19 GMT

Let me quote from 'Fowler's Modern English Usage'.

The expression a number of + plural noun as in a number of people NORMALLY takes a plural verb in both BrE and AmE, because the plural noun is regarded as the 'head' of the noun phrase and therefore as the real subject: A number of books by ballerinas have been published lately - New Yorker, 1987. By contrast, the expression the number of + plural noun, in which the head of the phrase is number and not the noun, takes a singular verb: The number of MPs has increased - Daily Telegraph, 1987.

Re: Subject - verb and pronoun agreement.

Grammarian-bot — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 04:33:13 GMT

Well guys, looks like every one here goes witha singular verb but American Heritage says it should be have. Actually I saw this sentence in Americam Heritage but couldn't figure out why is it so.

Following is the passage;

Every is representative of a large class of English words and expressions that are singular in form but felt to be plural in sense. The class includes, for example, noun phrases introduced by every, any, and certain uses of some. These expressions invariably take a singular verb; we say Every car has (not have) been tested. Anyone is (not are) liable to fall ill. But when a sentence contains a pronoun that refers to a previous noun phrase introduced by every, grammar and sense pull in different directions. The grammar of these expressions requires a singular pronoun, as in Every car must have its brakes tested, but the meaning often leads people to use the plural pronoun, as in Every car must have their brakes tested. The use of plural pronouns in such cases is common in speech, but it is still widely regarded as incorrect in writing.

Please explain why it says "every car must have its brakes tested".

Numerical expressions - singular or plural

Grammarian-bot — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 08:21:07 GMT

The rule for numerical expressions is that; if they are considered collectively then a singular verb would be used otherwise a plural verb would be used.
Fifty percent of the students [has or have] been expelled.
Here the act of expelling is a collective action so i think has should be used but i want to confirm the answer.
GB

Re: one of, neither, either, any of, none

Cool Breeze — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 18:04:35 GMT

"In view of Mr. P's intervening post, maybe we need to amend the "always"???"

We'll just have to do that. I didn't know professional writers had used a plural verb with neither. Of course, we can disagree with the OED if we want to, can't we? I don't think I'll do that, though. Live and let live.

But in my apartment neither always takes a singular verb, that's for sure! And as to none, I'm sure all language guides accept a plural verb with it or other expressions referring to countables. There's a movie entitled None But The Brave. The brave refers to people, many people, not just one person.

Thanks for updating me.
Cheers
CB

Re: Difference between American and British English

Guest — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 09:29:44 GMT

1. Use of present perfect tense and simple past tense

Speakers of American English generally use the present perfect tense (have/has + past participle) far less than speakers of British English. In spoken American English it is very common to use the simple past tense as an alternative in situations where the present perfect would usually have been used in British English. The two situations where this is especially likely are:

(i) In sentences which talk about an action in the past that has an effect in the present:

American English British/American English
Jenny feels ill. She ate too much. Jenny feels ill. She's eaten too much.
I can't find my keys. Did you see them anywhere? I can't find my keys. Have you
seen them anywhere?

(ii) In sentences which contain the words already, just or yet:

American English British/American English
A: Are they going to the show tonight?
B: No. They already saw it. A: Are they going to the show tonight?
B: No. They've already seen it.
A: Is Samantha here?
B: No, she just left. A: Is Samantha here?
B: No, she's just left.
A: Can I borrow your book?
B: No, I didn't read it yet. A: Can I borrow your book?
B: No, I haven't read it yet.
2. Verb agreement with collective nouns

In British English collective nouns, (i.e. nouns referring to particular groups of people or things), (e.g. staff , government, class, team) can be followed by a singular or plural verb depending on whether the group is thought of as one idea, or as many individuals , e.g.:
My team is winning.
The other team are all sitting down.
In American English collective nouns are always followed by a singular verb, so an American would usually say:
Which team is losing?
whereas in British English both plural and singular forms of the verb are possible, as in:
Which team is/are losing?
3. Use of delexical verbs have and take

In British English, the verb have frequently functions as what is technically referred to as a delexical verb, i.e. it is used in contexts where it has very little meaning in itself but occurs with an object noun which describes an action, e.g.:
I'd like to have a bath.
Have is frequently used in this way with nouns referring to common activities such as washing or resting, e.g.:
She's having a little nap.
I'll just have a quick shower before we go out.
In American English, the verb take, rather than have, is used in these contexts, e.g.:
Joe's taking a shower.
I'd like to take a bath.
Let's take a short vacation.
Why don't you take a rest now?
4. Use of auxiliaries and modals

In British English, the auxiliary do is often used as a substitute for a verb when replying to a question, e.g.:
A: Are you coming with us?
B: I might do.
In American English, do is not used in this way, e.g.:
A: Are you coming with us?
B: I might.
In British English needn't is often used instead of don't need to, e.g.:
They needn't come to school today.
They don't need to come to school today.
In American English needn't is very unusual and the usual form is don't need to, i.e.:
They don't need to come to school today.
In British English, shall is sometimes used as an alternative to will to talk about the future, e.g.:
I shall/will be there later.
In American English, shall is unusual and will is normally used.

In British English shall I/we is often used to ask for advice or an opinion, e.g.:
Shall we ask him to come with us?
In American English should is often used instead of shall, i.e.:
Should we ask him to come with us?
4. Use of prepositions

In British English, at is used with many time expressions, e.g.:
at Christmas/five 'o' clock
at the weekend
In American English, on is always used when talking about the weekend, not at, e.g.:
Will they still be there on the weekend?
She'll be coming home on weekends.
In British English, at is often used when talking about universities or other institutions, e.g.:
She studied chemistry at university.
In American English, in is often used, e.g.:
She studied French in high school.
In British English, to and from are used with the adjective different, e.g.:
This place is different from/to anything I've seen before.
In American English from and than are used with different, e.g.:
This place is different from/than anything I've seen before.
In British English to is always used after the verb write, e.g.:
I promised to write to her every day.
In American English, to can be omitted after write, i.e.:
I promised to write her every day.
5. Past tense forms

Below is a table showing verbs which have different simple past and past participle forms in American and British English.
Note that the irregular past forms burnt, dreamt and spoilt are possible in American English, but less common than the forms ending in -ed.

infinitive simple past (Br) simple past (Am) past participle (Br) past participle (Am)
burn burned/burnt burned/burnt burned/burnt burned/burnt
bust bust busted bust busted
dive dived dove/dived dived dived
dream dreamed/dreamt dreamed/dreamt dreamed/dreamt dreamed/dreamt
get got got got gotten
lean leaned/leant leaned leaned/leant leaned
learn learned/learnt learned learned/learnt learned
plead pleaded pleaded/pled pleaded pleaded/pled
prove proved proved proved proved/proven
saw sawed sawed sawn sawn/sawed
smell smelled/smelt smelled smelled/smelt smelled
spell spelled/spelt spelled spelled/spelt spelled
spill spilled/spilt spilled spilled/spilt spilled
spit spat spat/spit spat spat/spit
spoil spoiled/spoilt spoiled/spoilt spoiled/spoilt spoiled/spoilt
stink stank stank/stunk stunk stunk
wake woke woke/waked woken woken

Note that have got is possible in American English, but is used with the meaning 'have', gotten is the usual past participle of get, e.g.:

American English British English
You've got two brothers. (= you have two brothers) You've got two brothers.
You've gotten taller this year You've got taller this year
from www.onestopenglish.com