Timeline for Why is the verb used without “-s” in this sentence?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 28, 2015 at 15:49 | comment | added | Gábor | Well, I stand corrected, language changes faster than we think. :-) | |
| Apr 26, 2015 at 20:23 | comment | added | bjb568 | To me (american), having to sounds wrong. | |
| Apr 26, 2015 at 18:42 | comment | added | Shoe | @David Pugh. I know that a lot of the regulars here hate Word's grammar check with a passion, but I have found it increasingly accurate. My version (Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 on Windows) correctly accepts "One of our gnomes is missing" and rejects "One of our gnomes are missing." | |
| Apr 26, 2015 at 16:20 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @David: According to the Ngram in my last comment, Gábor's claim would have been correct between around 1900 and 1950. | |
| Apr 26, 2015 at 16:03 | comment | added | David Richerby | @Gábor I'm not convinced by that claim. To my British ears, "Help someone do something" sounds more natural than "Help someone to do something." | |
| Apr 26, 2015 at 15:55 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @Gábor: Actually, it looks like Ngrams shows both AmE and BrE are dropping the "to", but AmE started doing it earlier and is further along in the process. | |
| Apr 26, 2015 at 14:16 | comment | added | Gábor | It should be added that omitting "to" in "help (to) infinitive" is AmE usage. BE tends to retain the "to". This lack of "to" made it complicated for the OP. | |
| Apr 26, 2015 at 11:15 | vote | accept | Eilia | ||
| Apr 26, 2015 at 11:10 | comment | added | David Pugh | I wish Word grammar-check would learn that one. At least my incarnation of it is programmed to have inviolable subject-verb agreement at the expense of all else. As another example it would not like "One of our gnomes is missing" and want an "are". Pshaw. How many non-native speakers have been misled and corrupted thereby? | |
| Apr 26, 2015 at 11:09 | history | edited | Shoe | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
deleted 1 character in body
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| Apr 26, 2015 at 10:59 | history | answered | Shoe | CC BY-SA 3.0 |