This manual gives you several guidelines to help your subjects and verbs to accept. (Source: Celce-Murcia, M. Larsen-Freeman, D. (1999). The grammar book. Boston: Heinle and Heinle. In Kelly D. Pilleux (2003). Subject-Verb Concorde: Not just a second language learning problem.
Quoted in “Word-subject contract: thirteen problematic areas “. Article 3. The verb in either or either, or neither or the sentence is not closest to the name or pronoun. The verb-subject chord is usually quite simple in English. Check each general rules manual. However, for subjects that introduce the idea of quantity, some additional ground rules are needed. Here are a few that are useful for academic writing. Sometimes it`s hard to tell if you should use a singular or plural verb, but there`s a simple way to find out — just think of your sentence in response to a question. If you want to get your answer, can you ask how many questions? How big? What little one? or how long?, use a singular verb. These questions refer to an overall amount. Anyone who uses a plural verb with a collective noun must be careful to be precise – and also coherent.
This should not be done lightly. Here`s the kind of incorrect phrase you see and listen to these days: Note: The word dollar is a special case. When we talk about a money supply, we need a singular verb, but if we refer to the dollars themselves, a plural verb is necessary. This unusual pattern shows what we said earlier: expressions of time, money and distance often take on a singular verb. 5. Don`t be misled by a sentence that comes between the subject and the verb. The verb is in agreement with the subject, not with a name or pronoun in the expression. Joe and Tom are two people. That is why we use work, the plural form of the verb. Use a singular verb with sums of money or periods, i.e. the verb does not correspond to the head word of the subject of the sentence of noun, but to the singular monetary or timely sum: in the first sentence, the subject is a dollar. A dollar is unique.
The verb is also singular. If you can ask the question, how much?, use a plural verb. This issue is being considered by several units. In a collective noun, use either a singular or a plural verb, depending on whether you want to highlight the group or its individual members: 9. In sentences beginning with “there is” or “there is,” the subject follows the verb. As “he” is not the subject, the verb corresponds to the following. 2. If two or more individual names or pronouns are bound by or even, use a singular verb. Joe should not follow, was not, since Joe is unique? But Joe isn`t really there, so let`s say that wasn`t the case.
The sentence shows the subjunctive mind used to express things that are hypothetical, desirable, imaginary or objectively contradictory. The connective subjunctive mind pairs individual subjects with what we usually consider plural verbs. We will use the standard to highlight themes once and verbs twice. Article 7. Use a singular verb with distances, periods, sums of money, etc., if they are considered a unit. Article 8. With words that give pieces – z.B a lot, a majority, some, all — that were given above in this section, Rule 1 is reversed, and we are directed after the no bite after that of.
