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Pam Nelson: The Grammar Guide

 

‘subject-verb agreement’ archive

Number of comments in parentheses

June 27, 2012: Don’t trust a machine to do a human’s job

Pros don’t need to be told, but Microsoft grammar checker once again proved to me this morning that it can’t be trusted. It flagged this as a subject-verb agreement problem: The results of the survey very much reflect current market sentiment …  I guess it got lost on its way from the subject to the verb. If you need practice on subject-verb agreement, try Quiz. No. 67.

June 24, 2012: Verbs and the problems they give us – Quiz No. 67

Copy editors need to keep their eyes on verbs. Readers notice when verbs don’t agree with their subjects. Yet it’s easy sometimes to get lost in a tangle of phrases on our way to the verb. Intervening phrases can lead writers to choose a singular verb when a plural verb is needed or vice versa. I noticed such a problem in a history museum exhibit today. Seeing a problem in a public sign came at just the right time, though, because I was at work on a new Grammar Guide quiz all about verbs. I have posted the quiz[.....]

Jan. 10, 2012: A tricky agreement problem: Neither-nor

I encountered this sentence in a news story today: Neither Prince nor Malloy were wearing seatbelts, according to the accident report. You might have spotted the problem; it’s easier to see when the sentence is isolated. When two subjects are joined by neither-nor or either-or, choosing the right number for the verb can be tricky for writers. Focus your attention on the noun closest to the verb. If it is singular, as in the sentence above, choose the singular verb. If the noun is plural, choose the plural form of the verb. The sometimes maligned Associated Press Stylebook advises[.....]

Dec. 20, 2011: Writers care about grammar, too (3)

A reporter recently sent me this question: Which of the following is correct: “Ten percent of Americans plan to give….” “Ten percent of Americans plans to give…” I know the first one sounds better, but I think the second is grammatically correct when you think of “of Americans” as a modifier for “ten percent,” which would be doing the action. I was pleased to tell her that her instinct was right and that she should use the plural verb plan. I explained that, in this case, the number of the verb is determined by the noun that comes after[.....]