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Gulliano Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Subject-verb disagreement

The students knew that Professor Villa teaches molecular biology at the university.

The quiz I'm solving says this sentence has subject-verb disagreement problem.Can anyone explain why is it so?

My take on the sentence:

The students knew---in the past

professor teaches---- as in, has been teaching from a long time and probably will continue to do so in the future.
  

Top answer

The students knew that Professor Villa taugh t molecular biology at the university. (the use of "taught" doesn't mean that Professor Villa no longer teaches there; it's there just to make the verbs agree in tense) As for your original sentence, if we know that Professor Villa still teaches at the university, then I think that we can even use "teaches" and this particular usage is becoming more and more acceptable nowadays. (at least among some people)

— Ivanhr

  • The students knew that Professor Villa taugh t molecular biology at the university.
  • (the use of "taught" doesn't mean that Professor Villa no longer teaches there; it's there just to make the verbs agree in tense) As for your original sentence, if we know that Professor Villa still teaches at the university, then I think that we can even use "teaches" and this particular usage is becoming more and more acceptable nowadays.
  • (at least among some people)
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1 Answers
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The students knew that Professor Villa taught molecular biology at the university. (the use of "taught" doesn't mean that Professor Villa no longer teaches there; it's there just to make the verbs agree in tense)

As for your original sentence, if we know that Professor Villa still teaches at the university, then I think that we can even use "teaches" and this particular usa
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