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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Agreement Problem
Hello,
I'm a native speaker of AE correcting a book for a non-native speaker of English and have a question about subect-verb agreement in the following sentence:
"Another example of this are birds."
Of course, the problem we have here is "an example ARE", which definitely sounds wrong to me, yet a search on google yielded many sentences constructed in this way. It also does not sound right to say "Another example is birds", yet I suppose "Birds are another example" sounds fine. Is his original construction possible at all, or do all of these sentences need to be reworded?
Sorry for the silly question and thanks for the help!
I'm a native speaker of AE correcting a book for a non-native speaker of English and have a question about subect-verb agreement in the following sentence:
"Another example of this are birds."
Of course, the problem we have here is "an example ARE", which definitely sounds wrong to me, yet a search on google yielded many sentences constructed in this way. It also does not sound right to say "Another example is birds", yet I suppose "Birds are another example" sounds fine. Is his original construction possible at all, or do all of these sentences need to be reworded?
Sorry for the silly question and thanks for the help!
Top answer
It's not really a silly question, it confuses me too I think a good rule of thumb is to agree the verb with the preceeding noun. So either "another example is birds" or "birds are another example", as you suggest. I don't know whether it is technically the case, but I guess people read the first noun first, and therefore it sounds odd when a subsequent verb does not agree; whereas if the verb does not agree with the word after it, we don't mind as much because it sounds natural with the word before it.
- It's not really a silly question, it confuses me too I think a good rule of thumb is to agree the verb with the preceeding noun.
- So either "another example is birds" or "birds are another example", as you suggest.
- I don't know whether it is technically the case, but I guess people read the first noun first, and therefore it sounds odd when a subsequent verb does not agree; whereas if the verb does not agree with the word after it, we don't mind as much because it sounds natural with the word before it.
- e.
- what you and I have suggested.
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5 Answers
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It's not really a silly question, it confuses me too 
I think a good rule of thumb is to agree the verb with the prece
I think a good rule of thumb is to agree the verb with the prece
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Greetings, dear friends,
here is a very convient rule of thumb I often use myself. When we deal with a singular subject and a plural verb, as in
What I miss most are the plays,
we should try to reverse the sentence to set it right:
The plays are what I miss most,
where the classic rule of subject-verb agreement comes
here is a very convient rule of thumb I often use myself. When we deal with a singular subject and a plural verb, as in
What I miss most are the plays,
we should try to reverse the sentence to set it right:
The plays are what I miss most,
where the classic rule of subject-verb agreement comes
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Hi,
In my opinion, 'are' can be acceptable here. In the "Another example of this are birds." are is a copula which connects the subject Another example of this with its complement birds. The Another example of this refers to the plural noun birds so the verb are is rightly placed. However, one can use the linking verb is if one wants to
In my opinion, 'are' can be acceptable here. In the "Another example of this are birds." are is a copula which connects the subject Another example of this with its complement birds. The Another example of this refers to the plural noun birds so the verb are is rightly placed. However, one can use the linking verb is if one wants to
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Thanks everyone for the input!
I was hesitant about changing it to "Birds are another example" because I know he wanted to use "Another example" as his transition at the beginning a new paragraph, which is not quite effective in the middle of the sentence. Well, I gave him a couple of options and told him that I personally stumble over the sentence when I read it. Stumbling is to be avoid
I was hesitant about changing it to "Birds are another example" because I know he wanted to use "Another example" as his transition at the beginning a new paragraph, which is not quite effective in the middle of the sentence. Well, I gave him a couple of options and told him that I personally stumble over the sentence when I read it. Stumbling is to be avoid
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AnonymousAnother example of this are birds.I would change it to
Another example of this is birds.
There may be even better fixes, depending on context, but in any case it's the subject (example) that is supposed to agree with the verb - not the complement.
CJ
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