Questions tagged [proximity-agreement]
The proximity-agreement tag has no usage guidance.
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Are there any rules for placing a noun after a preposition?
I still cannot master which form of nouns (singular or plural) should be placed before and after the preposition "of".
For example, if I want to refer to one book of each student, which one ...
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A letter or letters, which is right?
I helped students to write a letter
I helped students to write letters
I met people who had a dream.
I met people who had dreams.
Which is correct?
When the agent is plural, the corresponding ...
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"this unusual instrument" with plural antecedents
The singular noun phrase "this unusual instrument" in the following refers to plural antecedents "them" and "glass harps." Is this practice acceptable in a school essay?
Glass harps haven’t ...
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An AI omitting a simple grammar rule?
In the game "The Turing Test", at one point an incredibly intelligent AI utters a sentence that baffles me because of its sudden disregard for the "s" form. It says:
The distance between Jupiter ...
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Question tag: Either you or he is mistaken, ____?
What is the appropriate tag to add to the end of the following statement?
Either you or he is mistaken, ______ ?
As is evident from the is, there are grounds for saying that the so-called proximity ...
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"My wife and I am": Singular / Plural and the rule of proximity issue
"My wife and I am" = one family, a singular number. Therefore satisfies the use of "am" for both number and proximity issues.
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Placement of relative clauses
I know anaphora, antecedents or relative pronouns; what bothers me most is the placement of relative clauses in a sentence. The structure of the complex sentence or compound sentence is such that I ...
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"Most of their conversation was complaints about the company."
I am a native English speaker and have gone through 8 years of grammar school (and 20-some years of speaking...). Nevertheless, sentences such as the one in the title have always sounded odd to me and ...
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have or has in this sentence?
This is one of the hesitating conditions in which I cannot tell for sure. Should I change "have been" to "has been"?
It has long been established that adverse drivers’ behavior, including behavior ...
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Revolutions can, and often have, begun with reading - why "begun", why not "begin"?
Revolutions can, and often have, begun with reading.
I am curious to know about the use of the verb "begun" here. Though I am not saying it's wrong, but it can also be "begin". I see it this way. ...