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Anonymous Posted 19 years ago
Grammar
Exception to the "-s" ending rule???
Hello,
I have a question regarding the third person singular, e.g. "He does..." or "Peter is going..."
One of my teacher told us that there is an "exception": if I refer by the subject to a group of people. E.g.: "The government make laws."
Is it true? Now a native speaker (and English teacher) said it is a nonsense so I am puzzled...
I have a question regarding the third person singular, e.g. "He does..." or "Peter is going..."
One of my teacher told us that there is an "exception": if I refer by the subject to a group of people. E.g.: "The government make laws."
Is it true? Now a native speaker (and English teacher) said it is a nonsense so I am puzzled...
Top answer
Some people are more inclined to think of nouns that reprepsent a group of people, like "the government," "the company," the committee" as representing a plural entity and use the plural verb. Americans are much more likely to use the singular, so those uses always sound "off" to my ears, but they are not impossible. S.
- Some people are more inclined to think of nouns that reprepsent a group of people, like "the government," "the company," the committee" as representing a plural entity and use the plural verb.
- Americans are much more likely to use the singular, so those uses always sound "off" to my ears, but they are not impossible.
- S.
- Senate," which is composed of 100 individual members, and can take a plural verb more readily.
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2 Answers
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Some people are more inclined to think of nouns that reprepsent a group of people, like "the government," "the company," the committee" as representing a plural entity and use the plural verb.
Americans are much more likely to use the singular, so those uses always sound "off" to my ears, but they are not impossible. I think the example is a bad one though - the goverment that makes laws
Americans are much more likely to use the singular, so those uses always sound "off" to my ears, but they are not impossible. I think the example is a bad one though - the goverment that makes laws
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Thank you! Yes, I see it is not a good example. It is a problem to think an example if you need it :-). I supposed this could be the problem - that I could not explain it to the teacher well. But she seemed not to admit anything like that at all. She is from UK as far as I know.
Jan
Jan
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