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6. Intervening words, phrases or clauses do not in any way affect the agreement between the subject
and the verb.
7. Take note that in inverted sentences ,the verb, especially the helping or auxiliary verb, comes
before the subject.
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Ex. This is the group of islands that attract thousands of tourists. (This refers to group; that
refers to islands)
I have brought the boy who has painted this mural. (who refers to boy)
22. In sentence constructions containing one of and only one of, in which a relative pronoun is subject
of the verb in the subordinate clause, the verb agrees with the antecedent of the relative pronoun.
Ex. He is one of the soldiers who never get tired of patrolling. (He belongs to the soldiers
who never get tired of patrolling)
He is the only one of the candidates who is willing to debate the issues. (who refers to
one)
23. Clauses when used as a subject depend on other words in context to determine the number of its
verb.
Ex. What you plan requires an enormous outlay of money. (outlay is singular and it
determines the verb)
What you plan require skilled workers and good managers.(workers and managers
determine the number of the verb.)
24. A subject based on verbal noun (gerund or infinitive) is treated as singular.
Ex. Reassembling the watch’s broken pieces takes steady hands and patience
Telling lies does not improve one’s character at all.
To have lots of money is the desire of many.
25. A subject consisting of a single noun clause is treated as singular.
Ex. Why Felix just walked out without explanation still baffles us.
How the baby manages to get out of his crib remains a mystery to his parents.
26. Some nouns have the same form for singular and plural.( moose, tuna, milkfish, species, deer)
Ex. The means justifies the end.
The means to save the European nations from economic collapse are drying up.
Tuna abound in that cold water bay.
Tuna makes a delicious sandwich.
27. Be careful of the plural forms of nouns derived from foreign language.( datum-data; basis- basis;
criterion-criteria; bacterium-bacteria; genus-genera; phenomenon-phenomena,; die-dice, etc)
Ex. The data* for this experiment are available in the laboratory.
(*use with singular verb already acceptable. cf. Angelina S. La Viña, Master Trainer,
Training for Less, harrypound.com)
The phenomena baffle the scientists.
One criterion has been omitted from the list.
28. “It” can be personal pronoun or an expletive. An expletive is a sentence filler or introducer. The
most common expletives are here, there, and it . That, whether, and If are considered expletives
when they introduce noun clauses. The expletive It is also called a false subject.
Ex. #1. It is obvious that he has studied hard.
Normal sentence: That he has studied hard is obvious. The clause functions as
subject of the sentence.
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Normal order of the sentence: To save a part of your monthly wages makes sense.
NOTE 1: In the normal order of the sentence, the expletive “it” disappears.
NOTE 2: Take care not to mistake the expletive “it” for the personal pronoun “it”.
31. Names of Sports teams will require plural verbs. (even if they don’t end in “s”)Basketball: Utah
Jazz; Orlando Magic: Oklahoma City Thunder. Baseball: Boston Red Sox; Chicago White Sox,
English Premier League (Football) Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, ; European
Football Real Madrid, Ajax (Amsterdam) Juventus (Torino, Italy) AC Milan (Milan)
Ex. #1. Miami Heat prevail over Chicago Bulls.
# 2. Chelsea reach finals in European Champion League.