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Mudclay Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
SV agreement w/ two subjects
Hello,
Could you explain and cite examples please for my reference?
Which one is correct?
a) It was the speaker, not his ideas, that has provoked the students to riot.
b) It was the speaker, not his ideas, that have provoked the students to riot.
Thanks!
Could you explain and cite examples please for my reference?
Which one is correct?
a) It was the speaker, not his ideas, that has provoked the students to riot.
b) It was the speaker, not his ideas, that have provoked the students to riot.
Thanks!
Top answer
Technically, a) is correct since speaker is singular. However, the tense seems to be a little off. I would say: It was the speaker, not his ideas, that provoked the students to riot.
- Technically, a) is correct since speaker is singular.
- However, the tense seems to be a little off.
- I would say: It was the speaker, not his ideas, that provoked the students to riot.
- CB
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6 Answers
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Technically, a) is correct since speaker is singular. However, the tense seems to be a little off. I would say: It was the speaker, not his ideas, that provoked the students to riot.
CB
CB
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Thank you!
How about this?
A) The department members but not the chair has decided not to teach on Friday.
B) The department members but not the chair have decided not to teach on Friday.
How about this?
A) The department members but not the chair has decided not to teach on Friday.
B) The department members but not the chair have decided not to teach on Friday.
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Members is plural, so have decided. Why should the chair have a bearing on the choice of the verb? The chair has made no decision whatsoever. He/She may or may not teach on Friday.
CB
CB
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It was a liitle confusing because of what i saw on the net when i was browsing it.
According to source, If your sentence compounds a positive and a negative subject and one is plural, the other singular, the verb should agree with the positive subject.
According to source, If your sentence compounds a positive and a negative subject and one is plural, the other singular, the verb should agree with the positive subject.
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mudclayAccording to source, If your sentence compounds a positive and a negative subject and one is plural, the other singular, the verb should agree with the positive subject.If you already have the answer, why do you ask?
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I'm not a native speaker, so i just wanted also to hear from a native speaker point of view.
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