In any language, certain words within a sentence have to agree with one another. This means, basically, that for a word to agree, the end of that word has to change to fit the sentence. There are two important types of agreement: subject - verb agreement, and noun - pronoun agreement.
Subject - Verb Agreement
In it's simplest form, the subject-verb agreement is this: a singular subject required a singular verb form, while a plural subject requires a plural form.
The grammatical subject of a sentence or clause is either a noun (cat, dog, Fred, Jane etc) or pronoun (he, her, him, his etc), or a phrase working as a noun or pronoun. Noun and pronouns always have a number: they are always singular or plural. In addition, some pronouns have a person form as well as a number: first, second and third person (for more information, see our point of view article here).
The grammatical subject (the noun or pronoun) agrees with the verb (doing word) it relates to. Verbs, like nouns and pronouns, also have singular and plural forms. What must be remembered is that the number of a subject noun or pronoun has to agree with the number of the verb that it relates to. If the subject is a pronoun, then the verb must also agree with the person form as well as the number. Generally, it's easy enough to know what's needed:
At most pop concerts, the audience sets out to have a really good time. Sometimes it succeeds in having an awesome time, but sometimes teenyboppers ruin the show.
In this example, the subject in the first sentence is the noun, "audience". It is a singular noun. The main verb that has to agree with this subject is "sets" - note that it's also singular. In the second sentence, the pronoun "it" needs a third person singular verb form: "succeeds".
There are a few ways that writers can get caught out, because they are unsure whether they need a singular or a plural verb, or else they unknowingly choose the wrong form.
1. If there are lots of words between the subject and the verb, they can "attract" the verb into the wrong form. Make sure you have the right subject in the verb:
2. Sometimes the subject consists of more than one noun, often joined by "and". The subject is then regarded as plural in nearly all cases:
However, if the nouns refer to the same thing, the verb stays singular:
3. If the subject consists of more than one noun joined by "or" or "nor" then the verb agrees with the noun closest to it:
Neither his clients nor his agent was able to find the recording studio. ("Agent" is closest to "was")
4. Be careful of pronouns with look plural, but are treated as singular:
None of these trades requites a university education. ("None" and "requires" are both singular)
Everyone in the whole world is doomed to die. ("Everyone" and "is" are both singular)
Other common singular pronouns are: each, anybody, either, neither, no one, someone, and something.
5. Some nouns look as if they are plural but are really singular, and vice-versa. Nouns that are the name of a group (such as class, jury, couple, committee, band etc) are regarded as singular pronouns, unless there is a reason to think of the members of the group separately. Named titles of works are always singular, even when the words in them are plural. You need to know about these so you can choose the right verb form:
Forty percent of the students want to watch a different movie. (A percentage of plural things takes a plural verb)
A pair of suspiciously girly-looking skinny jeans was hanging in his wardrobe. (Subject is the singular "pair")
The garage band meets in the city on Saturdays. (Regard "troop" as singular)
A couple were arguing about politics whilst holding hands. (Only individuals can argue, so plural here)
"Controlled substances" is the term that lawyers use for drugs. (Because "controlled substances is a phrase, the sentence takes a singular verb)
An oddity in this area is that "the number" is singular, but "a number" is plural:
A number of school-age children are attending the show tonight.
6. Be careful with sentences with an unusual word order. Usually, the sequence of a sentences is: subject, followed by verb, followed by object (The cat [subject] sat [verb] on the mat [object]). However, on occasion writers will invert the wording of a sentence for variety or for effect. If this is the case, and the subject is further along the sentence, then it must agree with the verb:
At the back of the room are a small aquarium and a big bowl of blue M n M's. (The sentence is inverted; the subject both comes at the end, and is plural)
7. The pronoun phrase "more than once", despite being the grammatical subject and indisputably plural, always takes a singular verb:
Noun-Pronoun Agreement
A pronoun in a sentence often refers to a noun (or pronoun) somewhere else within that sentence. In these cases, pronoun and noun (or pronoun) must agree in number:
The doctors finished their rounds.
The planning committee granted its permission to build.
The jury reached its decision.
Note that in the last two examples above, the nouns are taken to be singular, and singular pronouns follow. Using a plural pronoun is correct only if the writing is thinking of individuals:
One of the biggest problems with noun-pronoun agreement is that in English there is a plural pronoun that isn't gender specific ("their" can be female, male, or both), but there isn't a matching singular pronoun. We can only say "his", "her" or "its".
So what pronoun do we use instead? We can do one of these things:
1. Use "his" or "he" in such cases. This was the convention for centuries, on the principle that 'the male embraces the female'. Needless to day, the feminist in all of us disagrees entirely with this idea, and as a result this convention is no longer used. (Okay, it's passable if you're talking from the perspective of something set early in human history, but that's then passable as technique.)
2. Use "he or she" or "his or her". This is politically correct (don't we just love the politically correct), even if it always sounds a little clumsy or formal when used:
3. Put the entire sentence into plural form whenever possible (it is possible surprisingly often), whereupon the whole problem goes away.
What in God's name is a modifier? Well, a modifier is a word or a phrase that gives more information about the subject, verb, or object in a sentence. For example:
Mikey knows everything about music.
This sentence has a subject (Mikey), a verb (knows), and an object (music). It is not a dangling modifier. Let's add some more to the sentence, though, like this:
At the age of eight, Mikey already knew everything about music.
The opening phrase ("at the age of eight") supplies more information about Mikey. It is firmly attached to Mikey, and there is no possibility of misunderstanding what is being put forward. But, suppose I conveyed a similar idea in this sentence:
At the age of eight, Gerard began teaching Mikey everything about music.
This last sentence is difficult to understand, because the modifier, "at the age of eight", is unclear as to who it is owned by. Was Gerard eight when he began teaching Mikey, or was Mikey eight when he began to learn? The opening phrase is dangling loose, and the audience can easily attach it to the wrong noun. This is why it's called a dangling modifier.
Sometimes dangling modifiers, although grammatically incorrect, go unnoticed. This can be especially common in colloquial language (slang, for those of you playing at home, or in this case dialogue). For example:
Confirming our conversation, the plane will leave for LAX on Monday morning.
Strictly speaking, the opening phrase is dangling (the sentence technically refers to the speaker or writer, who is not mentioned at all) and can be attached wrongly to "plane". However, since there aren't a lot of people in the habit of speaking to machinery, most wouldn't notice the error. In fact some dangling modifiers have become acceptable in both writing and speech because they are so common:
Given the circumstances, you will be allowed to leave early.
Hopefully, we will be able to set off on our trip next week.
Both of the opening phrases ("given the circumstances" and "however") here are dangling and technically incorrect, especially the second, which appears to say that we will be setting off in a hopeful mood. Both, however, have become acceptable usage.
Dangling modifiers can also produce serious, sometimes comical, misunderstandings. They should always be avoided, and it's relatively easy to pick up on them once you know what they are.
Sentences become easier to understand if they are consistent in their structure. In any sentence that presents two or more ideas or pieces of information, the different ideas or items you list must be presented in the same form. This is called parallel structure:
The cause of the typhoid outbreak were that there was no clean water, poor housing conditions and eating contaminated food.
The three causes listed here are not explained in the same way, and so it is hard for the reader to make connections between them. The sentence reads much better like this:
The causes of the typhoid outbreak were that there was no clean water, the housing conditions were poor and people were eating contaminated food.
In the second version of the sentence, each factor is listed using the same structural elements (the verb "to be" "was" or "were" were used), and so it's easy to compare the items with each other. The same sentence could also be written like this:
The causes of the typhoid outbreak were the lack of water, the poor housing conditions, and the contamination of the food supply.
In this case, a different structural element has been used: the nouns "lack", "conditions" and "contamination".
There are several different ways of writing any one sentence, and these are just some. You should choose the one that you think expresses your meaning most clearly and concisely, but you must make sure that the elements within the sentence are expressed in the same way. If you're unsure, write a sentence in as many ways as possible and read them all aloud (when you speak your written work, you notice mistakes or awkward phrases that need re-working). The most important thing to remember, however, is that if it doesn't sound right, then it most probably isn't.
All information taken from "ENGL1003 (Imagined Words; Approaches to Literature) 2007 Language Notes", supplied by the Department of English and Cultural Studies of Flinders University.
