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The Guardian: We've built good relationships with people's families, which really help us to develop a true sense of person-centred support.

I believe that it should be "which really helps us"...because the subject is the idea of "building good relationships with people's families" and this should be treated a singular idea. Let me know whether I am wrong or not.

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    The grammar is correct if "which" refers to the relationships (plural), and not to the idea (singular) of building them.
    – Alpha Draconis
    Commented Jan 15, 2020 at 16:25
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    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.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Jan 15, 2020 at 16:49
  • @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.
    – Costa
    Commented Jan 15, 2020 at 17:07
  • 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".
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 15, 2020 at 17:22
  • 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?
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 15, 2020 at 17:25

2 Answers 2

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The easiest way to read this is to understand the pronoun "which" to stand for "relationships"

We've built good relationships with people's families, [and these relationships] really help us to develop ...

Therefore there is no error in subject/verb agreement

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You are right unless the author meant which in the restrictive sense, in other words unless the author intended to convey that the families with whom they've built good relationships are those families that really help...

And that intention strikes me as unlikely.

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  • That business about a possible restrictive relative clause (we only built relationships with those people's families that really help us, as opposed to all people's families, or those that don't help) doesn't seem relevant. That reading would depend on there not being a comma before the relative clause, which OP hasn't mentioned.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 15, 2020 at 18:03
  • Well... given that what's at question is a "well-known newspaper's" mastery of English syntax, I wouldn't think it prudent to simply assume that the newspaper's grip on punctuation is any more trustworthy (or subtle).
    – Paul Tanenbaum
    Commented Jan 15, 2020 at 18:39
  • Well, I'm with John Lawler on that one (nns should learn more before trying to correct newspapers). Pragmatically we know perfectly well what's actually intended by the cited text. But that's not really the point - it's all about what the syntax "means".
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 15, 2020 at 19:02

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