Agreement between a verb and its subject for number and person.
4
votes
3answers
490 views
Is it “5-6 weeks are a lot of time” or “5-6 weeks is a lot of time”?
I was just copyediting somebody's answer on another SE site and my native English speaker Sprachgefühl told me I had to correct the grammar of one sentence:
... 5-6 weeks are a lot of time ...
...
-2
votes
1answer
215 views
Is this a subject verb agreement error?
My English teacher says that the following is an "agreement" (which I assume means subject-verb agreement) error. He underlined the bolded parts of the sentence.
According to Political Research ...
3
votes
1answer
176 views
“Years of experience that keeps us safe.” vs “Years of experience that keep us safe.”
If you've ever seen Mythbusters, you know that all episodes contain at least one safety disclaimer. Having recently rewatched several episodes, I've noticed that some disclaimers have Adam saying, ...
0
votes
1answer
77 views
“Number of attempts per question is unlimited” or “are limited”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“A number of students” vs. “the number of students”
I want to know whether the following construct is correct:
Number of Attempts per ...
1
vote
1answer
973 views
“The contents of the cereal box” — singular or plural? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“The contents are” or “the contents is”
Which is correct?
The contents of the cereal box is distributed among the children.
The contents ...
3
votes
3answers
325 views
Is the sentence “The world is getting smaller and international connections tighter.” grammatically correct?
Is following sentence grammatically correct?
The world is getting smaller and international connections tighter.
What kind of construct is this? Parallel structure?
3
votes
4answers
298 views
Consistency of “There is the same number of elements in… as there are in…”
I'm proofreading this in a friend's paper:
There is the same number of elements in the set of odd numbers as there are in the even numbers.
The same number is singular and it's the thing being ...
14
votes
3answers
486 views
What are wrong with this phrase?
Is the phrase
what are wrong with XY and ZZ
correct English? I stumbled upon it in a question on movies.SE: What are wrong with the bleach and the fish in the Machinist?, and instantly thought ...
0
votes
0answers
464 views
Do vs Does? or Don't vs Doesn't? [closed]
I am a non-native English speaker, and one of the things that often trip me is the usage of do vs does(and don't vs doesn't) in speech and writing.
What are the grammar rules around the usage of ...
4
votes
3answers
297 views
Is there a grammar mistake in “Ball Don't Lie”?
There is a novel titled 'Ball Don't Lie', and a film also based on the novel with the same name (visit: Wikipedia synopsis). Then the sentence becomes more famous in sports world after Rasheed Wallace ...
3
votes
4answers
208 views
Number agreement of “a thing of the past”
Is the pluralization correct in the following sentences?
To Do lists are a thing of the past.
To Do lists are things of the past.
A To Do list is a thing of the past.
Are they all ...
2
votes
2answers
365 views
Does “the same number of people” behave as singular or plural?
This hurts my eyes to read it and my ears to say it, but the writer stands by item #43
About the same number of people was awarded bachelor's degrees in 2010 as filed for personal bankruptcy ...
1
vote
1answer
154 views
We was gonna have some fun [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“You was trouble”?
In the movie "Thelma & Louise", Thelma says:
You said we was gonna have some fun, so let's have some!
So my question is why does ...
4
votes
3answers
3k views
“A number of students” vs. “the number of students” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
A number of questions “has been” or “have been” asked?
From the grammatical view both are correct, but please explain the difference in meaning:
...
0
votes
1answer
913 views
Proper use of “has been” versus “have been” after plural reference [closed]
What is the actual "rule," and which one is correct?
Ports 10-20 have been or has been opened.
I strongly believe that "have been" is correct. I do not however remember the "rule," so I cannot ...
0
votes
1answer
349 views
Do vs. does in a statement [closed]
In the statement "Editorial use of images do not require a model release." which form of do/does would be correct? Should the verb agree with images (as in "images do not require..."), or with ...
10
votes
5answers
4k views
Is “audience” singular or plural?
I want to use 'audience' in the following sentence. In what form should I use it? Is it a singular or plural noun?
How the audience demotivate players in the NBA.
How the audience demotivates ...
4
votes
3answers
852 views
Are/is “headquarters” always used as plural?
I'm studying Intelligent Business English, there is a question like this:
... The company has offices in six countries, but the -------- are in
Brussels.
a. headquarters
b. main
...
3
votes
1answer
434 views
Correct way of writing this sentence [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
A number of questions “has been” or “have been” asked?
Which one of these sentences is correct?
The number of students are increasing.
or
...
2
votes
4answers
758 views
“If you or your colleague has” or “If you or your colleague have”?
Which is correct out of the following two sentences?
If you or your colleague have any questions, let me know
If you or your colleague has any questions, let me know
I was originally thinking that ...
6
votes
2answers
326 views
Can 'nothing' ever be preceded by a plural verb?
I've had it drilled into my head that nothing is always singular, since it's essentially another way to say 'no thing'. However, in the following sentence, I'm having trouble ascertaining whether the ...
3
votes
2answers
2k views
Is the sentence “There is a large number of labourers who want to migrate to Japan for work.” correct? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
A number of questions “has been” or “have been” asked?
There is a large number of labourers who want to migrate to Japan for work.
I type ...
0
votes
0answers
208 views
How should I write this phrase: “Either A or B does not exist” or “Either A or B do not exist”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is “either you or [third-person]” followed by a singular verb or a plural verb?
We are not native speakers, and are writing an error message for software ...
4
votes
4answers
2k views
Is “most part of” plural or singular?
Is "most part of" singular or plural? Which is correct: "most part of the banks are corrupt" or "most part of the banks is corrupt"?
-2
votes
1answer
299 views
How do I have to refer to God? [closed]
I am always wondering about the proper way to conjugate the verbs when it comes to "God". Do I have to add the "s" to the verb?
4
votes
3answers
2k views
“Neither is” or “neither are” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Which is correct, “neither is” or “neither are”?
Which is correct?
No, neither of these websites is biased as they give a wide range of informative information ...
6
votes
3answers
558 views
“How much is/are the two fares?”
Which is correct?
How much is the two fares?
How much are the two fares?
2
votes
1answer
1k views
Somebody/someone gets/get *
Which is correct: "Somebody gets punished" or "Somebody get punished?" I have the same question with respect to "Someone gets" and "Someone get." Is there a rule which applies to this kind of ...
5
votes
6answers
2k views
“A variety of X is” vs. “a variety of X are”
Which of the following sentences is correct?
A variety of dishes are being prepared.
A variety of dishes is being prepared.
I believe that both can be used, though I'd stick with ...
0
votes
2answers
516 views
“always be” vs “is/are always”
Are the following sentences grammatically correct? I think #2 is correct, but I'm not sure.
My room always be clean
My room is always clean
2
votes
5answers
615 views
Does “a [x] of [y]” take a singular or plural verb?
What kind of verb, singular or plural, goes with phrases like "a record of [singular or plural noun]", "the use of", "the time of"? Does the choice depend on the following nouns (a record of nouns) or ...
6
votes
3answers
987 views
“…as you and I am” versus “…as you and I are”
Which is the correct usage to end the following sentence?
[person] is not as [adjective] as you and I [am/are].
I'd also like to see some good fill-in-the-blanks.
4
votes
4answers
1k views
Can “what kind” be plural?
Is it correct to say, "What kind of patents are being issued in these sophisticated times?" It seems like it should be What kind of patents is being issued..., but that sounds wrong. What kind of ...
4
votes
1answer
250 views
Number agreement of a noun with several adjectives
If there are several adjectives referring to different instances of the same noun, should the noun be plural?
For example, which of the following is correct?
The first, second, fifth and ...
8
votes
2answers
112 views
Verb agreement with “what”
This came up when reviewing a written English exercise, and I realized that I don't entirely trust my intuition on the answer.
Which of the following is correct? Or are both valid? (Or is it ...
0
votes
4answers
799 views
“Who is” or “Who are”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is a company always plural, or are small companies singular?
When asking about the identity of a business/company, which of these is the most correct?
"Who is ...
0
votes
2answers
262 views
“X has/have joined”
Which are correct?
1 has joined the channel.
1 have joined the channel.
5 has joined the channel.
5 have joined the channel.
23
votes
3answers
2k views
Is two-thirds plural?
Is 2/3 always, sometimes or never plural?
E.g.
1a) 2/3 of the pizza were eaten.
1b) 2/3 of the pizza was eaten.
2a) 2/3 of the visitors were men.
2b) 2/3 of the visitors was men.
I ...
6
votes
4answers
640 views
“1 out of 100 chickens is” or “1 out of 100 chickens are”?
I'm in an argument. To me "are" makes more sense. I understand the rationale for is because it's only one chicken, but chickens itself is plural. Help?
1
vote
3answers
960 views
“Each” vs. “both”
I have this sentence:
Each of the datasets HapMap 6 and CEU HapMap 610 is stored in two schemas.
Background: a schema is a namespace within a database. Possible variations include:
[Each ...
6
votes
5answers
377 views
A pedant's plea for a proper pun
This problem has plagued me occasionally, and I'm finally asking: What is the proper grammar (specifically, verb use and capitalization) in the following pun situation?
The only Windows I want to ...
1
vote
3answers
259 views
Is it correct to say “What's the best search tools in windows?”
I saw a question in superuser.com, and the title ran:
What’s the fastest desktop search tools you’ve used on Windows?
It uses 's with tools, is this correct? Or should it be What's the best tool ...
2
votes
3answers
396 views
“The one who wants” vs. “the one who want”
I am getting confused with usage of 's' with verb- consider following 2 sentences-
I am the one who wants to stay with you.
I am the one who want to stay with you.
According to me, first ...
1
vote
2answers
863 views
“There always come/comes a point”
Which is correct?
There always come a point...
There always comes a point...
Would there be better ways to write this?
2
votes
2answers
211 views
How should we treat a plural term that refers to singular term?
I'd like to better understand why is the following grammatical:
One of the problems is flags.
Here flags refers to the flagging system. However, flags is plural and the flagging system is ...
5
votes
5answers
579 views
“One of those is flags”
Jeff Atwood ♦ has just posted something that I'm confused about
Stack Overflow, due to its size, has some unique problems. One of those is flags
I'd say that those and flags are both in ...
0
votes
2answers
2k views
“How does he does/do that?” [closed]
How does he does that?
How does he do that?
Which one is correct? This type of sentence sounds a little odd because of two do/does in a single statement. Is there an alternative which has ...
2
votes
0answers
52 views
Why is 'more than one' considered singular? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“There is/are more than one”. What's the difference?
As a native English speaker I do some things naturally that I am unable to explain to foreigners. ...
2
votes
3answers
956 views
Is “what happened is” correct?
Let me provide one example from a local news:
"Essentially what happened is the state approved the same dollar
amount it did last year for the supplemental general fund"
My thinking is, the ...
0
votes
0answers
388 views
“She’s got a ticket to ride, but she don’t care” — why? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
The grammaticality of “that don't impress me much”
In the famous Beatles song Ticket to ride, it is said of the protagonist that “she don’t care”. Why ...
