MASC 305 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Measles, Nominative Case, Possessive
Document Summary
Each subject and its verb must agree in number (singular or plural) Each pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number, gender, and person. Each word, phrase, or clause in a series must be stated in parallel wording. The number of the subject is not affected by parenthetical words, phrases, or clauses that are set by commas: when the (cid:272)onjun(cid:272)tion "not only (cid:271)ut also" is used, the (cid:448)er(cid:271) should agree with the nearer subject. Collective nouns are singular in form but plural in meaning. Use a singular verb when the collective noun is being used in the sense of a single group operating in agreement. Use a plural verb when the collective noun is being used in the sense of a group operating in disagreement. All teams use plural verbs, even if their names are singular (example: miami heat) Nouns that have no plural, although some may look plural. Some take a singular verb, others take a plural verb.
