Download Agreement of the Predicator with the Subject

Agreement of the Predicator with the
Subject
In principle the predicator agrees with the subject in number and person – in Modern English agreement
with the subject is restricted to the present tense forms.
The bell rings.
The verb be is an exception because it agrees with the subject not only in the present tense but in the
past tense as well. With the auxiliaries and modal verbs there is no apparent agreement.
Following rules should be observed:
1. A singular subject agrees with a singular predicator, a plural subject agrees with a plural
predicator:
He runs fast. They run fast.
2. Two or more co-ordinate subjects connected by and or asyndetically take a plural predicator:
Mr. Brown and Mary’s father are great friends.
A telegram, two parcels and a letter have been sent off.
When two or more co-ordinate subjects connected by and denote one single idea, or one
person or thing (a unit), a singular predicator is used:
Truth and honesty is the best policy.
Tom and Jerry is a drink and a cartoon.
3. with two or more singular subjects joined by the conjunction or, or by the correlative
conjunctions either...or, neither...nor, not only...but the predicator is normally in the singular:
John or Mary is going to settle the affair.
Either Jack or Frances is the oldest in the class.
However, when a plural and a singular subject are joined by either...or, neither... nor, not only...
but also the predicator is nowadays either singular or plural (more widely used):
Neither the assistants nor the professor was/were able to solve the problem.
4. when two singular subjects are connected by the conjunctions as well as, no less then, the
predicator is in the singular:
The main actress as well as the director was late again (cf. Slovene).
I as well as they am ready to help you.
5. when the subject and the subject complement differ in number, the predicator agrees with the
subject, not with the subject complement (Cf. Slovene):
The best part of his grammar book is prepositional phrases.
6. Titles of books, poems, plays, newspapers or magazines take a singular predicator if the title can
be regarded as a name. Similarly the names of hotels, shops, etc. as they represent one building:
“Gulliver’s Travels” is a fine satire.
The three Lions is the best hotel in our town.
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The predicator may be in the plural when the plural form of the title denotes a series of stories
or poems:
“The Canterbury Tales” are told by the Knight, the Miller, the Reeve, the Man of Law.
Wordsworth’s “Lyrical ballads” was / were published in 1798.
When the subject is expressed by a plural nominal phrase denoting time, measure or instance
weight, height, amount of money, the predicator is in the singular if the noun represents a
singular idea, i.e. the amount of the mass as a whole:
Ten days is too short a time for the trip.
Twenty miles is much too far for a child to walk.
in mathematical computations the predicator be may be either singular or plural, predicators
equal and leave but always in singular.
Three plus three are/is/!equals six.
Fractions take a singular predicator if the noun in the following of-phrase is singular; they take a
plural predicator if the following of-phrase is plural:
One-third of the debt has been paid off.
One-third of the workers were against the strike.
The same rule applies for the sentences with a subject expressed by the nominal phrases a lot
of, a variety of, most of, plenty of, some of, the majority of...
A lot of money has been invested.
A lot of cars were parked in front of the theatre.
A number of... agrees with a plural predicator; the number... takes a singular predicator.
A number of passengers are reported missing.
The number of victims is higher that was at first thought.
When the subject is expressed by a singular pronoun, including the indefinites (they are
normally treated as singular): each, either, neither, someone, anyone, somebody, everybody,
everyone, nobody, no one, something, nothing, the predicator is in the singular:
Either of the examples is correct.
Neither of the answers is wrong.
None usually agrees with a plural predicator:
None are so blind as those who won’t see.
!None of them(No one) is going to get anything.
Agreement with the collective nouns:
A collective noun is a word for a group of persons, animals, or objects considered as a single unit –
however, the singular form of some collective nouns may have either a singular or a plural concept
(army, assembly, audience, band, board, class, committee, company, council, clergy, club, crew, crowd,
enemy...)
If the collective noun that occurs as subject is regarded as a unit the predicator is in the singular; if
attention is being paid to the individual members of the unit, the predicator is in the plural.
His audience is middle class people. vs. The audience are requested not to leave the theatre before the
national anthem is finished.
collective nouns fruit and hair:
single predicator: sadje, lasje
plural predicator: sadež, las
What colour is her hair?
She has a few grey hairs.