Sunday, November 14, 2010

EngQuizzitive-48 (grammar) : Sub-Verb agreement

Topic : Sub-verb agreement

Answers:

  1. Some of the marbles are on the floor.[Indefinite pronouns when followed by 'of ' generally take a plural verb.Also in this sentence since marble is a countable noun the verb number is plural]
  2. Some of the sugar is on the floor.[In this sentence though the indefinite pronoun is followed by 'of' the verb number is singular as the noun in consideration here that is sugar is uncountable]
  3. A can of limba beans sits on the shelf. [since the subject in this sentence is can which is singular hence the number of the verb is singular]
  4. Neither the actors nor the director is/was following the lines closely.[when double conjunctions or corelatives are used the verb number depends on the number of the noun in its proximity.In this sentence since the verb is close to the noun ' director' which is singular the number of the verb here is singular] Answer : both 1 and 3
  5. A pencil and an eraser make writing easier.[since the two nouns are joined by co-ordinating conjunction the number of the verb is plural]

6 comments:

  1. In the 3rd question, the options are 1)sit 2)sits
    which of them is correct?

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  2. i had learn that : the two things which denots to one thing or are parrall will tak a singular form eg. bread and butter is for the breakfast
    lock and key is a must

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  3. Can you please elaborate on the answer of the 5th question?
    is it 'make' or 'makes'?

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  4. nice one got all 5 on 5 right!!

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  5. Yes, please elaborate on the answer of the 5th question.

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  6. "a pencil" and "an eraser" are 2 separate things here, so one must use "make" as per the subject-verb agreement. "Bread and butter" refers to a single dish. Other examples are "fish and chips", "mac and cheese", "roti and subzi"...

    Also, "lock and key", in this case, is taken collectively as a single entity. Other examples:

    "Boarding and lodging" is available here.

    In Ireland, "bed and breakfast" comes for a premium.

    ReplyDelete