I came across the sentence
My biggest grievance is grammar mistakes.
I'd be inclined to write it as
My biggest grievance is with grammar mistakes.
or
Grammar mistakes are my biggest grievance.
What is the correct way to write this, and why?
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4They are all correct. See this related question (asked by none other than myself): english.stackexchange.com/questions/8716/…– Cerberus - Reinstate MonicaMay 12, 2012 at 18:27
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Every one of them is correct. 'grammar mistakes' could be considered either as a type of error (singular) or several instances of individual errors (plural).– KrisMay 12, 2012 at 18:28
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Related (and possible duplicate): <Singular> Is/Are <Plural>?– RegDwigнtMay 12, 2012 at 19:21
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1 Answer
The verb should be singular or plural based on the subject. In your first and second examples, grievance is your subject, so you use is. In the last example, mistakes is your subject so you want to use are.
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No, this is wrong. As is stated in the comments, all of the options are correct. May 14, 2012 at 8:41
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@MattЭллен But doesn't Dymatic say exactly the same thing as you do, although in a more tortous way? Why downvoting him for saying that the three sentences are all correct and that the verb should be the one requested by the subject?– PaolaMay 14, 2012 at 9:29
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