Timeline for Is this a subject-verb agreement mistake in a well-known newspaper?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 17, 2020 at 14:19 | history | edited | Costa | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jan 17, 2020 at 14:18 | vote | accept | Costa | ||
| Jan 17, 2020 at 14:13 | history | edited | Costa | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jan 15, 2020 at 23:16 | answer | added | James K | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jan 15, 2020 at 19:42 | comment | added | BillJ | You are right. In very simple terms, where the antecedent of a supplementary relative clause is a clause, the verb in the relative clause is normally singular. | |
| Jan 15, 2020 at 18:11 | comment | added | Costa | :) I wrote that | |
| Jan 15, 2020 at 17:54 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Costa: Ah, right. That's all clear as mud then! :) | |
| Jan 15, 2020 at 17:45 | comment | added | Costa | @FumbleFingersReinstateMonica yeah plural is too many and we need to save more for tomorrow. I am just learning English :) Here you are the full story, I got a habit of writing an idea + which + clarification. So in the beginning I lost a lot of marks because the verb was supposed to be in singular form and after a while I lost one mark because the verb was supposed to in plural form. This is because I always clarify an idea and usually need to use singular verb. So I researched for more examples and it was crystal clear, and I found this example which I could not understand .....Thanks :) | |
| Jan 15, 2020 at 17:25 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Costa: the verb coming after "which" should be in a singular form? Are you seriously suggesting we should never refer to things which are plural? | |
| Jan 15, 2020 at 17:22 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I think the target of which is inherently ambiguous in the cited context. Only the verb form tells us whether it refers to the (singular) np [f]act of having built good relations (helps), or (plural) np good relations (help). So it's entirely a matter of opinion / personal style which verb form is "correct". | |
| Jan 15, 2020 at 17:10 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jan 30, 2020 at 3:05 | |||||
| Jan 15, 2020 at 17:07 | comment | added | Costa | @JohnLawler I don't have a hobby of correcting newspapers, and I want to understand the grammar in the newspaper because reading them is a good way to learn more English. I always assumed that the verb coming after "which" should be in a singular form. So I learned something new. Please don't be so judging person. | |
| Jan 15, 2020 at 17:02 | history | edited | Costa | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jan 15, 2020 at 16:49 | comment | added | John Lawler | The phrase building a good relationships with people's families is ungrammatical, and does not appear in the Guardian sentence. It can't be the subject, and you should learn more before trying to correct newspapers. | |
| Jan 15, 2020 at 16:33 | answer | added | Paul Tanenbaum | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jan 15, 2020 at 16:25 | comment | added | Alpha Draconis | The grammar is correct if "which" refers to the relationships (plural), and not to the idea (singular) of building them. | |
| Jan 15, 2020 at 15:53 | history | asked | Costa | CC BY-SA 4.0 |