2015-04-14 Evening: subject/verb agreement

Greg Malivuk
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http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk
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Homework: p. 59-60 exercises 1 and 2
exercise 1
1 has
2 has (more commonly “have”)
“none” = “not one”, which would normally take a singular verb, but other quantifiers all take plurals
3 are
4 come (“a number of”, “a couple of”, “a lot of”, “a bunch of” - all take plural verbs)
(“a couple” can be a quantifier meaning “approximately 2”, or a noun meaning “two people in a relationship”)
5 report (the verb agrees with the nearest noun, as in rule E on p. 58)
(rule E says “Either the newspapers or the Internet reports…” is correct, though I would still use a plural verb if any of the subjects is plural)
There is a bathroom and two bedrooms. / There are two bedrooms and a bathroom.
(the verb again agrees with the nearest subject)
6 are
7 is
8 is
9 have
10 considers
exercise 2
1 says
2 realizes
3 have
4 ...aspects was
5 have been
6 have been
7 is allowed
8 is perhaps
9 are
10 the poor do not
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the + [adjective] = the [adjective] people (or another plural noun inferrable from context)

If I want to talk about just one, or a specific small group, I need to add the noun: a poor person, a young wolf
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Adjectives (especially nationalities) ending in -an and -i are also nouns: one American, three Iraqis

Nationalities ending in -ese and -ish are only adjectives:
Chinese people, the Spanish language, French food
The Chinese live in China. The Spanish colonized much of the New World.
* There is a Chinese in my class.
-> There is a Chinese student in my class.

“a Chinese” is either grammatically incorrect or racist

The same pattern is true for other adjectives about people:
“There is a gay in my class.” - this sounds homophobic
“There is a gay student in my class.” - this is okay
“There is a lesbian in my class.” - this is also okay, because we understand -an adjectives as appropriate nouns
“There is a lesbian student in my class.” - this is also okay

The social logic is that a specific individual is not only their race or sexuality, so using that as a noun is objectifying or otherwise insulting.
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p. 4 in the grammar book

Gerunds, infinitives, and clauses can be subjects, and they take singular verbs (we usually think of them as noncount nouns).
Eating too many burgers is not healthy. (gerund phrase as subject)
To eat that many burgers is not healthy. (infinitive phrase as subject)
That burgers are unhealthy is generally accepted by doctors. (noun clause as subject)
What I ate last night isn’t important.
Whether burgers are healthy doesn’t really matter to me.
Whether she takes the bus or the train isn’t important.

clause: a group of words including a subject and a verb

Noun clause: a clause that functions as a noun (What I ate last night isn’t important. - it’s the subject)
Adjective clause: a clause that functions like an adjective (It’s the restaurant where we ate last night. - gives more information about a noun)
Adverb clause: a clause that functions like an adverb (I’ll cook dinner after I get home. - gives more information about the verb “cook”, just like if I said, “I’ll cook dinner tonight.”)

(phrase: a group of words that is not a clause)
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14 She shouted, “None of you have a chance!” (“none” and “neither” use plural verbs in informal situations)

“The Simpsons” is a funny TV show.
The Simpsons are interesting characters.

Sentence 19 is correct in British English, but not American English.
Sentence 20 is what we would say in the United States.

Pink Floyd was a popular group. (singular noun -> singular verb)
The Beatles were a popular group. (plural noun -> plural verb)

My family is not very big.
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p. 5 exercise 5
1 won’t be
2 Was Lord of the Flies…?
3 has pockets (the subject is “pair”)
4 doesn’t interest
5 isn’t going to improve
6 None of you are my friends
7 Never have I had to listen
(“I have never had to…” is also correct.)
8 which wasn’t about
9 Is statistics…?
10 aren’t made
If we start a sentence with a negative adverb, we usually invert the subject and verb of the sentence:
Never have I ever visited France.
Rarely does anyone understand all of this the first time.
Little do they know that he’s been here the whole time.

I have a little money and a few friends. = I’m not rich or famous, but I’m happy.
I have little money and few friends. = I am poor and lonely.

Where is my new pair of jeans?
Where are my new jeans?
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p. 5 exercise 6
1 was (c)
2 was (e)
3 is (a) (like line 16 on p. 4)
4 is (d) - especially if it’s written: “Billy, as well as all his friends, is going camping.”
5 is (b) - in American English
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http://historyofenglishpodcast.com/ - a podcast about the history and development of the English language (it starts with the history of Indo-European and then of Germanic languages, and then moves onto Old, Middle, and Modern English.)
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Homework: write a list of things you used to be afraid of but no longer are
(we won’t need our books in class, so you can return it for the $50 before class if you’re done after Thursday)