Abstract
A verb must agree in number with its subject, so we say: ‘The man catches the ball’, but ‘the men catch the train’. We make the verb ‘to catch’ plural because its subject, ‘the men’, is plural. That is fairly straightforward and in most simple cases the majority of people don’t have too much difficulty. The problems arise when the sentence becomes complicated and it is difficult to be sure exactly which word or words represent the subject of the sentence.
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Further reading
Burton, S.H., Mastering English Grammar, Palgrave Macmillan, 1984
Crystal, David, The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language, Cambridge University Press, 1997
Chambers Guide to Common Errors, Chambers, 1999
Chambers Guide to Punctuation, Chambers, 1999
Eastwood, John, Oxford Guide to English Grammar, OUP, 1994
Fowler, H.W., Modern English Usage, Oxford University Press, 2002
Gowers, Sir Ernest, The Complete Plain Words, Penguin, 2003
Manser, Martin H., Bloomsbury Good Word Guide, Bloomsbury, 2000
Oxford Manual of Style — The Essential Handbook for All Writers, Editors, and Publishers, Oxford University Press, 2002
Partridge, Eric, Usage and Abusage, Penguin, 2003
Peck, John, and Coyle, Martin, The Student’s Guide to Writing, Palgrave Macmillan, 1999
Rose, Jean, The Mature Student’s Guide to Writing, Palgrave Macmillan, 2001
Strunk, William Jr, and White, E.B., The Elements of Style, Allyn & Bacon, 2000
Hilton, Catherine, Getting to Grips with: Punctuation and Grammar, Letts, 1992
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© 2004 Nicky Stanton
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Stanton, N. (2004). Common problems with English. In: Mastering. Palgrave Master Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-21164-3_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-21164-3_20
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