AGREEMENT OF THE PREDICATE WITH THE SUBJECT

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 765.

The Compound Modal Aspect Nominal Predicate

The Compound Modal Aspect Predicate

The Compound Aspect Nominal Predicate

The Compound Modal Nominal Predicate

MIXED TYPES OF THE PREDICATE

They combine elements of different types of predicate:

It has a modal verb and a link verb:

She couldn't be happy.

Jane must feel better pleasedthan ever.

It has an aspect verb and a link verb:

He was beginning to look desperate.

George stopped being ashamed.

It has a modal verb and an aspect verb:

You ought to stop doing nothing.

He can't continue training.

It has a modal verb, an aspect verb and a link verb:

You must stop being lazy.

In the English language the predicate agrees with the subject in person and number. Below are some rules of agreement:

1. When two or more singular subjects are connected by the conjunction and or asyndetically, the verb is plural.

Mary and Helen likecheese.

a) But the verb is singular if the two nouns express one person or thing, or is considered to be a unit.

Bread and butter iswholesome food.

This bomber and its cargo probably weighs over a hundred tons.

The sum and substance of all she says hasno effect.

The painter and decorator hasfallen off the fence.

b) There is a strong tendency to use the verb in the singular when the verb precedes a number of homogeneous subjects and the first is in the singular:

There isa bottle and three glasses on the table.

Here isTom and Jerry.

In the distance washeard the applause and the shouts of people.

There wasa concert and dancing in the hall.

c) The verb is in the singular if the subjects are expressed by infinitives:

To do homework and to eat sandwiches isvery interesting.

d) If two attributes characterize one subject in the singular but denote two persons or things, the plural verb is used.

Vertical and sloping writing areboth allowed.

In modern hotels hot and cold water aresupplied.

American and Dutch beer areboth lighter than British.

A black and white kitten wereplaying on the table. (2 kittens)

e) The singular is required when “and” introduces something in parenthesis:

The Prime Minister, and perhaps the President, is coming.

2. Agreement depends on the conjunctions the subjects are joined by:

a) If the subjects are connected by the conjunctions as well as, rather than, as much as, more than, together with, with, the predicate agrees with the first subject.

The teacher as well as the students ispresent.

I as much as they amready.

b) If the subjects are connected by the conjunctions not only … but, also, either … or, neither … nor, the predicate agrees with the nearest subject.

Either you or I amright.

Neither the teacher nor the students werepresent.

There wasnot only the teacher but also some students at the lesson.

3. If the subject is expressed by the pronoun, the agreement is as follows:

a) The pronouns somebody, someone, anybody, everybody, everyone, everything, each, either, nobody, no one, neither, etc. have a singular predicate.

Somebody has come.

However, we often use plural pronouns (they, them, their) to refer to these words, especially in a conversational style.

If anybody calls, tell them I'm out.

Nobody came, didn't they?

Someone left theirumbrella yesterday.

Everyone thinks they arethe centre of the universe.

Whoever comes, tell them to go away.

The plural pronouns are used instead of he, she, him, her, as a way of purposely not specifying the sex of the person referred to. In a more formal style he, him and his (not necessarily referring to a male person) are generally used instead of they, etc.

b) The pronoun none may have a plural or singular predicative.

c) The interrogative pronouns who, what have a singular predicate. But if the pronoun denotes more than one person or thing a plural predicate may be used.

Who hascome?

Who arewalking on the grass?

d) With relative pronouns the form of the verb depends on the noun or pronoun which is its antecedent.

Do you know the girl who lives next door?

Do you know the girls who livenext door?

But: It's me who isright.

e) If the subject is expressed by the formal emphatic pronoun “it”, the predicate is in the singular, no matter what follows.

It wasmy friends who suddenly arrived.

It's they who are responsible.

NOTE: The predicate also agrees with the subject when the subject and the predicate are of different numbers.

The only guide was the stars.

The stars wereour only guide.

f) Linked subjects introduced by each or every require a singular verb. The reason is that each and every focus on the individual units separately.

Each room and corridor hasbeen painted in the same colour.

4. With quantifiers the predicate agrees in the following way:

a) The number of the predicate with the quantifiers part of, plenty of, half (of), quarter of, remainder, per cent of, percentage of, a lot of, lots of, heaps of, bags of, loads of depends on the noun it refers to, whether it is countable or uncountable.

There is a lot of snow this years.

There are a lot of mistakes in the test paper.

There islots of snow this year.

There arelots of mistakes in the test paper.

It seems like half the articles in this magazine arejust filler.

There'sheaps/bags/loads of time yet, slow down.

There wasabsolutely tons of food at the party.

There aretons of apples this year.

The remainder of the food is for tomorrow.

Two students in our group know English well, the remainder arevery good people.

b) The group many a + noun agrees with a singular verb.

Many a lie hasbeen told.

c) The expression more than one is followed by a singular noun and verb.

More than one student ispresent.

d) The expressions a number of …, a variety of …, a group of … are normally used with plural verb.

A number of students have attended the lecture.

e) The expressions the number of …, the variety of … retain their concrete meaning (количество, разнообразие) are used with the definite article and have a singular verb.

The number of the students present issmall.

f) The expression the majority of … , the minority of … can be used with both a singular and plural verb.

5. The number of the predicate can depend on the lexical meaning of the subject.

a) Some collective nouns, though singular in form, always have a plural predicate: police, cattle, livestock, poultry, vermin, infantry, clergy, gentry, jury, memorabilia These are the so-called “nouns of multitude”

I don't know what the police aredoing.

b) Some collective nouns, though singular in form, can be used in the plural or in the singular depending on their meaning (the idea of oneness or plurality): family, committee, board, army, chorus, band, corps de ballet, part, team, squad, crew, crowd, orchestra, cast, group, judiciary, navy, intelligentsia, think tank, fair sex, coterie, The General Assembly, government, public, couple, pair, folk, the KGB, etc.

The family weresitting round the table. (considered separately)

My family issmall. (considered as a whole)

c) The words data, media, although plural in their Latin forms, are now coming to be used as uncountable nouns. Some people still do not like this uncountable use of the words.

d) Names of sports teams in British English are used in the plural.

Chester City were relegated from Division 3 in 2000.

England areplaying tomorrow.

e) Subjects expressed by invariable singular nouns ending in –s have a singular verb: news, measles, mumps, rabies, billiards, dominoes.

f) Nouns in –icswhich are names if sciences and other abstract notions have a singular agreementwhen used in their abstract sense, but may have a plural predicate when denoting qualities, practical applications, different activities, etc. Politics, economics, linguistics, logistics, tactics, acoustics, optics, ceramics, ethics, etc.

Tactics isone of the subjects studied in the academy.

Your tactics areobvious.

g) Names of countries, territories, cities or organizations ending in –s or connected by the conjunction and are usually used in the singular.

The United Arab Emirates isa highly developed country.

The Netherlands isthe country I have never been to.

The United States strongly objectsto this decision.

São Tomé and Príncipe hasthe population of 160,000.

Debenhams isa group of large shops in Britain.

Nantes isnot far from Bordeaux.

h) Titles of books, films, plays, etc. are used in the singular even if they are plural in form.

Gulliver's Travels isfull of satire.

(The plural is possible if a collection of stories is meant: The Canterbury Tales)

6. Subjects expressed by nouns denoting measure, weight, time, etc. have a singular verb when the statement is made about the whole amount.

Ten years isa long time.

Another five minutes hasgone by.

A million kwanzas isa lot of money.

Twenty miles isa long way to walk.

8 degrees C isalways better than 9 degrees C.

7. In arithmetical calculationsthe singular verb is usually used.

4672 minus 1143 equals3529, doesn'tit?

261 divided by 9 is29.

(However, multiplication admits of two variants: Twice two is/arefour.)

8. If an expression is used as a quotation, the verb is singular.

‘My apologies' wasall he could say.

‘Mice' is an irregular plural.

9. No rules can be observed in the stylistic device called ENALLAGE [ə'nælədʒi:] – substitution of one grammatical form for another, an effective grammatical mistake.

We was (wuz) robbed! (a phrase typically said by supporters of a sports team who feel that their team lost a match unfairly)

But see where Somerset and Clarence comes! (Shakespeare)

The posture of your blows areyet unknown. (Shakespeare)

I takes my man Friday with me. (Defoe)

My patience areexhausted. (James Joyce)

She don't care. (The Beatles)

NOTE: Students should notuse enallage at their exams.