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David Jonathan Bell Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Noun + be verb + noun (sv agreement)
MS Word says the subject and verb don't agree in the following sentence:
One of the most popular attrations in Taiwan is night markets. (Word thinks "markets" should be singular, because of the be verb I suppose).
It seems this sentence could be broken down thus: "noun + be verb + noun." "Night markets" seems plural but is in fact a collective noun that acts as a singular thing in this sentence. Does this make sense? Anyway, the subject of this sentence would appear to be "one", so the verb should agree with "one." When the first part of a be verb sentence and the compliment are both nouns, it is correct to consider the first noun to be the subject?
Thanks!
One of the most popular attrations in Taiwan is night markets. (Word thinks "markets" should be singular, because of the be verb I suppose).
It seems this sentence could be broken down thus: "noun + be verb + noun." "Night markets" seems plural but is in fact a collective noun that acts as a singular thing in this sentence. Does this make sense? Anyway, the subject of this sentence would appear to be "one", so the verb should agree with "one." When the first part of a be verb sentence and the compliment are both nouns, it is correct to consider the first noun to be the subject?
Thanks!
Top answer
Hello, David - and welcome to English Forums. One more reason to ignore spell check software. Yes, it is the subject ('one') that should agree with the 'verb'.
- Hello, David - and welcome to English Forums.
- One more reason to ignore spell check software.
- Yes, it is the subject ('one') that should agree with the 'verb'.
- Sometimes a plural in the predicate can annoy even a human reader, and if that is the case, you should recast: One of the most popular attractions in Taiwan is its array of night markets.
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1 Answers
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Hello, David - and welcome to English Forums.
One more reason to ignore spell check software.
Yes, it is the subject ('one') that should agree with the 'verb'. Sometimes a plural in the predicate can annoy even a human reader, and if that is the case, you should recast:
One of the most popular attractions in Taiwan is its array of night markets.
One more reason to ignore spell check software.
Yes, it is the subject ('one') that should agree with the 'verb'. Sometimes a plural in the predicate can annoy even a human reader, and if that is the case, you should recast:
One of the most popular attractions in Taiwan is its array of night markets.
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