"It is [plural] like yours that . . ." or "It are [plural] like yours that . . ."

Question

Here is the sentence with which I am struggling:

"it is contributions like yours that make it easier for seminary students like myself to have access to such resources."

Should "is" be replaced by "are" since "contributions" are plural?

(Other helpful grammatical suggestions for correction will also be appreciated.)

Canadian45 · Accepted Answer

AnonymousHere is the sentence with which I am struggling. You can't end a sentence with a colon.
"It is contributions like yours that make it easier for seminary students like me to have access to such resources." Should "is" be replaced by "are" since "contributions" are plural? No, you cannot say 'It are...'.

CalifJim · Answer

canadian45You can't end a sentence with a colon.

You have inserted this comment quite often in your responses, and I find it puzzling given that there is so much advice to the contrary to be found everywhere you look.

These are typical examples of the use of the colon, and all of them contain sentences that end with a colon.

There was only one possible explanation: The train had never arrived.
I have three sisters: Daphne, Rose, and Suzanne.
Luruns could not speak: He was drunk.
Benjamin Franklin proclaimed the virtue of frugality: A penny saved is a penny earned.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_%28punctuation%29

____________

Right or Wrong ?
The ingredients for the chocolate cake : flour, cocoa, butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract.

Wrong ! The above sentence includes a list of cake ingredients introduced by a colon. A colon is indeed expected to introduce a list but the text preceding it must constitute an independent clause making up a sentence that can stand alone. As the preceding text is merely a noun phrase and not an independent clause answering to the double requirement of both subject and predicate, placing the colon here is wrong. A correct wording would therefore be:

We need several ingredients for the chocolate cake : flour, cocoa, butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract.

from http://www.whitesmoke.com/punctuation-colon.html

___________

A colon should be written AFTER an independent clause or complete idea.

from http://www.myenglishteacher.net/USINGCOLONS.HTML

___________

Rule 1

Use the colon after a complete sentence ...

from http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/colons.asp

CJ

Canadian45 · Answer

I can see many things in your references that agree with what I say. I'm talking about the incorrect use of a colon at the end of the complete sentence and line, not before the additional information.
But it's not worth spending my time to comment further. I need a long break, maybe a permanent one, from here.

Canadian45 · Answer

On my. way out, I will make a few more observations about what I think is inappropriate use of the colon. And it seems clear that a good part of the 'craziness' is due of the various style guides of the print media. The first example in the previous post is a good example of the craziness.

There was only one possible explanation: The train had never arrived. This would be okay except for the capital T in "Train". If that is supposed to be a sentence, why does tha part after the colon start with a capital letter? The same applies to a couple more sentences immediately following the one above.
There are other examples of inappropriate colon use in which the common theme is the use of a colon instead of a period.

Now you may ask what my objection to all this is.
When people work in the print media, they presumably have to follow the style guide, no matter how incorrect they or I or anyone else may think it is.
But for the English learners here, learning correct punctuation is a desirable goal, in my opinion. So that's why I have been after them about this. They can pay or not pay attention to me as they wish. But I absolutely don't accept the suggestion that anything one sees in the print media automatically becomes correct punctuation.

That's it for me at least for now. (excepting anything further on this thread or other recent threads I have responed to)

Cheers!

"It is [plural] like yours that . . ." or "It are [plural] like yours that . . ."

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