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Cup cake Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Subject verb agreement

Hi Everyone,

I have a question about the following sentence:

'Half of the books have been put back on the shelf.'

This sounds correct to me because I think that it's books that is the subject of the sentence, thus needing 'have', not has.

However, I have a friend who isn't an English teacher, but has English teaching quals telling me that the word 'half' should determine the verb, and not 'books'. So, in her opinion the sentence should read:

'Half of the books has been put back on the shelf.'

This certainly doesn't sound right to me.

What do others say about this one?

Miss puzzled.
Thanks.
  

Top answer

e. half of two is one). , then I'd use "have".

— Anonymous

  • e.
  • half of two is one).
  • , then I'd use "have".
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8 Answers
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I'd use "has" if there were two books (i.e. half of two is one). It there were four, six books, etc., then I'd use "have".
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"has" is wrong. "half of the books" is plural in meaning, so it should be "have".
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Thanks A and GPY.

So, the rule is to look at the 'verb phrase', and NOT the first word of the sentence.

Bravo...Emotion: mmm
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Cup cake'Half of the books has been put back on the shelf.'This certainly doesn't sound right to me.
It isn't right. See for verb agreement with percentages and fractions.

CJ
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Cup cakeSo, the rule is to look at the 'verb phrase', and NOT the first word of the sentence.
I think you mean noun phrase, not verb phrase.

By the way, I do not really agree with Anon. I find it hard to imagine the sentence being used at all in the case of two books, but "has" sounds wrong to me no matter how many books.
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Thanks CJ and GPY.

I have to say...'most phrases (e.g phrasal verbs, prepositional phrases, noun phrases) - you name them - do my head in.'
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Cup cakeI'm good with tenses, and just about everything else, but deciding on a prepositional phrase versus a noun phrase etc, is my WORST nightmare.
If you can replace the phrase with a simple noun and it still makes the same grammatical sense, then it is a noun phrase (i.e. ignoring "trick" substitutions which can make sense but with an altered grammatical s
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That sounds perfectly logical.

I will now try that...

Ad nauseam.

Many thanks!
Emotion: angel
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