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Subject Verb Agreement Collective Nouns Quiz

However, if we remove the word “two” from your sentence, it would be written in formal American English as “Fifty percent of mangoes are spoiled.” The theme of your sentence is 50%. Fractions and percentages can be singular or plural, depending on the purpose of the next preposition. In this case, mangoes are the subject of the preposition of. Mangoes is plural; Therefore, the uses are. In addition, our number writing rule 1 says, “Spell out all the numbers that begin a sentence.” In formal writing, we recommend grammatically correct construction, although this may bother some readers. In this case, the collective name is family, singular, since each duck does the same and therefore acts as a unit: “A family of ducks rested on the grass”. With respect to the second sentence, our Rule 8 on matching subjects and verbs states: “The pronouns of everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone, someone and someone are singular and require singular verbs.” The grammatically correct sentence could be: “Would all passengers take their place” or the cumbersome phrase “Would everyone take their place?”. Learn all about who and who, affect and effect, themes and verbs, adjectives and adverbs, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and more by simply sitting down and enjoying these easy-to-understand lessons. Tell your colleagues (and bosses), children, teachers, and friends.

Click here to see. “Stop the traffic! The Bush family is linked to a slave trader. Shouldn`t the verb be “is” in this case? I am a researcher and I want to know the most common errors in subject-verb matching and I would like to have something of the theoretical and conceptual framework of your book. I will use it as a reference. After reading the following information, test yourself with a post-assessment quiz and practice here with our high-quality, standards-focused questions. Note that our rule 6 of the subject and verb agreement states, “Generally use a plural verb with two or more subjects if they are through and connected.” There are exceptions to this rule if the subjects or names of the sentence form a single unit or unit, a collective idea, or a unity of the idea. (They called it “the same thing,” but it might be too restrictive.) Examples we`ve seen where a singular verb is used with two topics, which is characterized by “peanut butter and jelly are my favorite snack,” “profits and losses are important for any business,” and “spaghetti and meatballs go well with garlic bread.” In these cases, the interpretation of the “unity of the idea” rests essentially with the author of the sentence. Given this, either “Loss of life and serious injury in our sky is unacceptable” or “Loss of life and serious injury in our sky is unacceptable” is fine. The verb in both sentences is correct, depending on whether you are writing about an event in the present or in the past. (The meaning of “in matter” is cumbersome and unclear.) I`m in a little puzzle with my boss. He wrote in a certificate “the full colors will be awarded to John.” I say that full colors are not a collective name, but a series of awards that have been obtained for being full of colors, and therefore the full colors are given to John.

Am I wrong? Teachers write well. It`s true? Since this is a collective name, why are 25% of people right? The theme of this sentence is 25%. Fractions and percentages, such as team and employee, can be singular or plural, depending on the purpose of the next preposition. In this case, man is the object of the preposition of. We have already said that people are plural. Therefore, 25% become plural in the sense. The sentence you quote is intended to deliberately illustrate how section 14 works. Rule 14 also states: “Sometimes the pronoun is who, the subject of a verb in the middle of the sentence. The pronouns that, that, and after the noun directly in front of them become the singular or the plural. So, if this noun is singular, use a singular verb. If it`s plural, use a plural verb. Since the one in the middle of the sentence preceded by the noun Men is the plural, we use the plural verb do.

You don`t have to consider the word one in the sentence. What does “groups” mean in this sentence? It means more than one group, making it a plural collective noun. Select the summary name(s) in the following sentences. Remember, a collective name is a word or phrase that represents a group of people or things, but is treated as a singular entity. Collective nouns, like most common nouns, can be made plural. One thing I read and hear that distracts my attention from what is said in the way it is said is the matching of numbers. For example, someone might say, “My biggest fear is heart attacks.” Obviously, the speaker fears “a heart attack” or simply “heart attack”, but so often the subject and the nominative predicate (if I remember my English correctly in college) do not correspond in number. In my career as a court reporter, I have not been able to change spoken words, but as a young writer, I always formulate sentences to avoid this construction simply because it does not sound good.

To learn more about matching topics and verbs, click here. Use the plural verb because these two topics are through and connected. Thank you for your clear and helpful answers on this topic. I have problems with singular-plural-subject mixtures, where it seems that an argument could be made for each form. What is correct in the following examples? The collective names committee seems to function as a unit in your first sentence and as individuals in the second sentence. The Committee is considering these issues carefully. The committee leads very different lives in private. It follows that we are confused about collective nouns, relationships (which I include in the percentages), and apostrophes. To add another insult to literacy, spelling has become an uncomfortable insignificance. I also find the use of the plural form with collective nouns problematic. One of the examples given (the team was satisfied with their presentations) raises the question by using “you” as a prepositional pronoun. If “team” is taken in the singular, then the correct pronoun would be “it” and “The team was satisfied with their presentations”.

This seems perfectly acceptable to me, although the prepositional noun “presentations” is plural. This seems to contradict the alleged principle that the case is based on the plurality of the prepositional or non-prepositional noun phrase. The key word in your penultimate sentence is “prefer.” You may want to read our latest blog on the subject: Rules and Preferences. .