Search results for 'tag:Plural subject tag:Singular nouns' matching tags 'Plural subject' and 'Singular nouns'

Re: What is Concord?

Yoong Liat — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:49:57 GMT

Hi B-A

Below is for your information.

What is âconcordâ?There must be grammatical logic or coherence in the links between parts of a sentence. This is called 'agreement' or 'concord'. EXAMPLES The boy is swimming.
[singular subject, singular verb form]

The boys are swimming.
[plural subject, plural verb form]

The shop [singular] opens at nine o'clock. On Thursdays the shops [plural] open late. Sometimes confusion occurs because a statement begins in the singular but then drifts into the plural: wrong
It can be argued that a person has the right to know when they are dying. The easiest solution to this problem is to make the subject plural and its verb plural as well: correct
It can be argued that people have the right to know when they are dying. Sometimes a singular noun is used to denote a plural or a collective thing - such as 'government' or 'parliament'. Either the singular or the plural verb form may be used - but the important thing is to be consistent. wrong
The government prefers to let matters rest, but events may make them change their minds.correct
The government prefers to let matters rest, but events may make it change its mind. correct
The government prefer to let matters rest, but events may make them change their minds.

Re: cheerleader

LearningNerd — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 17:49:17 GMT

The first one, because -- actually, I'm not quite sure how to explain it. Well, a quick search on google for "thing after thing was" has about 100 results, while "thing after thing were" has none.

Hmm. As I understand it, the only way to form a plural subject out of two singular nouns is to join them with the word "and". Other joining words like "or" require a singular verb, and I guess "after" does, too. There's probably a word for this sort of "one after another" construction -- does anyone know?

Re: Subject and Verb

Mister Micawber — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 08:11:09 GMT

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.

Re: "There/Here is" with plural subject allowed?

eagle2l84 — Mon, 03 Jan 2005 22:56:53 GMT

Hi,

it's me, Ralf, the starter of this thread. Thanks for your answers so far. A post in another thread pointed me to the "American Heritage - Book of English Usage", where I found this section:

According to the standard rule, when the pronoun there precedes a verb such as be, seem, or appear, the verb agrees in number with the following grammatical subject: There is a great Italian deli across the street. There are fabulous wildflowers in the hills. There seems to be a blueberry pie cooking in the kitchen. There seem to be a few trees between the green and me. But people often disregard this rule and use a singular verb with a plural subject, especially when speaking or when using the contraction thereâs. The Usage Panel dislikes this construction, however. Seventy-nine percent reject the sentence Thereâs only three things you need to know about this book. But when thereâs is followed by a compound subject whose first element is singular, the panel feels differently. Fifty-six percent of the Usage Panel accepts the sentence In each of us thereâs a dreamer and a realist, and 32 percent more accept it in informal usage. The panel is even more accepting of the sentence When you get to the stop light, thereâs a gas station on the left and a grocery store on the right; 58 percent accept it in formal usage, while 37 percent more accept it in informal usage. Although this usage would seem to violate the rules of subject and verb agreement, the attraction of the verb to the singular noun phrase following it is so strong that it is hard to avoid the construction entirely.

While this clarifies the usage for AmE, I still wonder how it used around the world.

Hoping for more to come,

cu