A period of time, when considered a unit, takes on a singular verb: five months are over. You can also write “The five-month waiting period is over” since the name is now period, which is also singular. Example: The team is eating with their family tonight. I came across a sentence that I believe has a problem with the subject/verb correspondence. Please find the following: If a person`s name ends in s, we must add -es for the plural. The plural of Collins is Collinses. Since the subject is plural, use the plural verb are. Ask students to follow the outline with their fingers. Ask students to follow the outline with their fingers.
It is a matter of discretion. Our rule 7 of the subject-verb agreement states: “Use a singular verb with distances, periods, sums of money, etc. if it is considered a unit. This rule corresponds to the discussion in the first sentence of this article about “Names . act as a unit. Use the plural verb because these two topics are through and connected. Please help me identify the theme and verb in “Mr. John likes to play basketball.” If the noun acts as a unit, use a verb in the singular. In each of your examples, names act as units. For example, Metallica is releasing a new album as a unit, not just some members of the band. Therefore, the use is in all your examples. I respectfully disagree with your use of the plural verb when you talk about “team or employee.” I recently heard that a national television reporter uses a plural verb to talk about a married COUPLE — she used it twice.
This led me to study it because it is contrary to what I learned in public school (1937 to 1950). I realize that language is evolving, but I will continue to use the singular verb with all collective nouns and when I hear something else, it will continue to rub my nerves. In formal writing, we recommend grammatically correct construction, although this may bother some readers. In this case, the collective name is family, singular, since each duck does the same and therefore acts as a unit: “A family of ducks rested on the grass”. The subject is Mr. John, the main verb is to love, and playing is called an infinitive. See Rule 3 of Find Nouns, Verbs and Topics on our website GrammarBook.com. The correct sentence is this: almost one in four people in the world is Muslim.
The subject of the sentence is one, which is singular and assumes a singular verb. The rule you write about only applies to collective names. The word one is not a collective noun, it is a singular noun. In the sentence A family of ducks resting on grass, is the subject of the phrase family, which is a collective name. In this case, the author may decide to use a verb in the singular or plural, depending on whether he considers the “family” as a unit or as an individual who is part of that unity. My mother goes to the movies with her friends. The server team should not be used with IS? Class titles can be capitalized when officially used with a particular school such as the 2012 Washington High School Class. Terms that refer to student status, such as senior and junior, are in lowercase. Since the 2012 Senior class functions as a unit (which is further evidenced by the use of the possessive singular pronoun its), the singular verb should be announced. The use of singular vs. plural verbs with collective nouns is a matter of the author`s intent (see Rule 9 of the subject-verb agreement). For portion words, we are guided by the noun according to (see Rule 8 of the subject-verb agreement).
The use of the plural pronoun in pop quiz question #2 forces the team of collective nouns to be considered plural. However, we believe that this question can be revised in a more instructive way so that our readers can interpret its meaning, which we have done. Thank you for your comment. This raises a more important point. The English plural is used in more and more cases for all collective nouns. (This appears in AP press releases, local newspaper articles, NYT articles, descriptions of cable programs on the screen.) This seems to be the beginning of a gradual approach to using English grammar rules instead of American grammar rules. Group members act individually within the unit in your example. Therefore, use the plural verb were. For the sake of clarity, we recommend rewriting the sentence as the group members did not agree with the responses. In the case of a group of travel doctors. in the previous rules, you mentioned that a collective noun followed by a plural object of the preposition in different cases corresponds to a plural verb. For example, “India has a team of players who are committed”, here we use “are”.
Similarly, group is a collective name, followed by doctors. Shouldn`t it be called “a group of doctors traveling to Haiti”? Our English language is evolving, whether we like it or whether we like the reasons or not. We follow the rule of the Chicago Manual of Style, which states: “If the subject is a collective noun that conveys the idea of unity or multitude, the singular verb {the nation is powerful}. If the subject is a collective noun that conveys the idea of plurality, the plural verb is {the faculty was divided in its feelings}. How do you know that work, not work, is plural? Think about the word you would use with him and the word you would use with them. Thank you for your kind words. Yes, we agree that we often see and hear false correspondences of subjects and verbs. In the case of your first sentence, “My number one fear is heart attacks,” the sentence is not wrong, but it is clumsily worded. The theme of the sentence is “fear”, which is singular. The singular verb “is” corresponds to the subject. The object, “heart attack,” is in the plural, which makes the sentence strange. Is the person afraid of having a single heart attack or multiple heart attacks? We do not know.
They found a few tricky sentences, and we have to be careful when choosing the right rules. The example of our website comes from rule 14 of the subject and verb agreement and deals with the pronouns that, that or which and how the verb should match the noun before those pronouns. The Purdue example does not contain the pronouns that, that or what. It follows our rule 2 of finding subjects and verbs, which says, “A subject will come before a sentence that begins with von.” This subject is “group” and corresponds to the singular verb “contains”. From what you have said, we cannot say whether you are commenting on one team or more than one team, whether you are referring to the number of teams or the number of players on each team. We also don`t know what came before this sentence to justify the beginning with the word But. After all, team grouping is a strange phrase. We do not understand what that means. We`re sorry, but we can`t make a recommendation on how to write your sentence correctly. I was wondering if you could help: Eating and sleeping is/are? Running and jumping is/are? My mother goes to the movies with her friends. Thank you very much! I`m with Ron on this issue and it even goes beyond common sense.
It is not acceptable to extract the first word “one” in this context and call it the subject; the theme is “one of the four… ». The words after “one” are not prepositional, they all form the subject. Since “one in four” represents more than one number of people, the subject is plural, so Ron is right. If you were to apply your logic, you would say, “One percent (of a countable name) is white.” Please tell me you wouldn`t. 3. Nearly 25% of the population is Muslim. The word population is a collective noun that can take a singular or plural verb, depending on the intention of the author. It should be noted here that this percentage represents a single group. 2. The mock trial team was/was satisfied with its presentations to the judge.
The Associated Press Stylebook classifies data as plural nouns, usually with verbs and plural pronouns. An additional note indicates that some words, such as .B. data, which are plural in form, become collective nouns and take singular verbs when the group or set is considered a unit. Examples: The data is strong. (One unit.) The data was carefully collected. (Individual items.) Nouns that designate a unit adopt singular verbs and pronouns: class, committee, crowd, family, group, herd, jury, orchestra, team. Some examples of application: The committee meets to set its agenda. The jury arrived at its verdict.
A herd of cattle was sold. .