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Anonymous Posted 19 years ago
Linguistics Studies

Transformational Rules and Subject-Verb Agreement

0 My question may be a little strange...but I appreciate any help I can get.02br
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00Given a passive sentence: "The subjects have been captured by the officer"...02br
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00...and applying transformational rules to the underlying structure...02br
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00Underlying Structure: The officer past have en capture the suspect.02br
00Passive Transformation: The suspect past have en be en capture by the officer.02br
00Affix-Hopping: The suspect have+past be+en capture+en by the officer.02br
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00How does subject-verb agreement come into play? As a native english speaker I would say "The officer has captured the suspect" or "The suspects have been captured by the officer." It is unclear to me wether subject-verb agreement must be taken into account before or after the passive transformation. Regardless if the sentence is passive or active "the officer" is the subject of the sentence but the verb "have" seems to change depending on wether the sentence is active or passive. If "the officer" is always the subject how come the the verb "have" changes? I am just really confused about how subject-verb agreement comes into play here. Would I use it before or after the passive rule? Perhaps it doesn't matter at all?02br
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00- Thanks0-
  

Top answer

02i 02br 01i 00The subjects02i 00: 01font 01b 00grammatical02b 00 subject02font 00 of the sentence, in actual fact still of course the 01font 00object02font 00 of the verb 01i 00capture02br 00have02i 00: auxiliary perfect tense verb in 3rd person plural since 01i 00subject01b 00s02b 02i 00 is a plural noun02br 01i 00been02i 00: past participle of 01i 00be02i 00, needed for the perfect tense of 01i 00be; 02i 00reflects the original tense02br 01i 00captured02i 00: past participle of 01i 00capture02i 00, needed because the verb is in the passive voice 02br 01i 00by the officer02i 00: 01font 01b 00agent02b 00 of the passive sentence02font 00, formed from the subject of the active sentence and naturally still indicates who did the job of capturing the subjects02br 02br 00Unfortunately this is the only passive of English and therefore may occasionally cause confusion. 02br 02br 00Cheers02br 00CB0-

— Cool Breeze

  • 02i 02br 01i 00The subjects02i 00: 01font 01b 00grammatical02b 00 subject02font 00 of the sentence, in actual fact still of course the 01font 00object02font 00 of the verb 01i 00capture02br 00have02i 00: auxiliary perfect tense verb in 3rd person plural since 01i 00subject01b 00s02b 02i 00 is a plural noun02br 01i 00been02i 00: past participle of 01i 00be02i 00, needed for the perfect tense of 01i 00be; 02i 00reflects the original tense02br 01i 00captured02i 00: past participle of 01i 00capture02i 00, needed because the verb is in the passive voice 02br 01i 00by the officer02i 00: 01font 01b 00agent02b 00 of the passive sentence02font 00, formed from the subject of the active sentence and naturally still indicates who did the job of capturing the subjects02br 02br 00Unfortunately this is the only passive of English and therefore may occasionally cause confusion.
  • 02br 02br 00Cheers02br 00CB0-
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9 Answers
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0 Active: 01i01font00The officer02font00 has captured the subjects.02i02br
01i00The officer02i00: 01font00subject02font02br
01i00has02i00: auxiliary perfect tense verb in 3rd person singular since 01i00officer02i00
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0 It seems obvious that the subject-verb agreement must happen after the passive transformation. Otherwise you end up with the ungrammatical02br
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00*The suspects has been captured by the officer.0-
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0 Good question. 02br
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00In brief, subject-verb agreement must be taken into account after passive transformation . In other words , immediately after the exchangability between the subject and the object which will become the grammatical subject (VS the logical subject). Example :02br
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00 "The subjects have been captured by
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0 In response to the questions posed in the first post of this thread, "the officer" is NOT the subject of the sentence regardless of whether the sentence is active or passive. "The officer" is undoubtedly the doer of the action in both sentences, but it is the subject only in the sentence with the active verb.02br
00In the sentence with the passive verb, it can only appear in the pr
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what are the rules in subject verb and agreement
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Anonymouswhat What are the rules in of subject verb and agreement ?
If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular. If the subject is plural, the verb must be plural.
That's all there is to it.
CJ
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The couple is living in Dallas
The couple are living in Dallas

Which?
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AnonymousThe couple is living in Dallas
The couple are living in Dallas

Which?

Either one will do. Couple is grammatically singular but two people are needed to form a couple. Especially in British English a plural verb is often used if many people are involved: England are up four to two. That's what a British sport
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The Passive Rule requires a number of actions:

1. Interchangability between the subject and the object which will become he new subject .

2. a suitable verb to be.

3. pastparticiple of the verb

4. insertion of by

So the Subject Verb agreement will apply directly after step one . Or let's say simoltaniously.

Best of luck
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