121
votes
In the sentence: "Drinking and driving IS dangerous", why does the verb "to be" need to be singular?
Because drinking isn't dangerous, and driving isn't dangerous – at least, not in comparison to the single activity "drinking and driving" – the two words are treated as a single unit.
This might ...
J.R.♦
- 109k
53
votes
Accepted
Why isn’t the third person singular used in “The Lord bless you”?
No, “the Lord bless you” is the subjunctive, indicating that the speaker wishes for the Lord to bless you. Changing it to “blesses” would therefore change the meaning.
Wikipedia explains that this is ...
- 15.3k
44
votes
Accepted
Is this sentence correct? "A lot of sugar have been added to the milk."
A lot of sugar have/has been added to the milk.
No, the verb should be the singular "has".
The quantificational noun "lot" is number-transparent, which means that the whole noun phrase takes on the ...
- 15.8k
37
votes
Why is "help you save money" wrong if the subject was plural?
The sentence could be read two ways.
One, which you may have intended, is that there are two things that help you save money: 1) living at home and 2) eating your mother's cooking instead of going out ...
- 7,994
33
votes
Accepted
Why should "are" be used here instead of "is"?
Option B is the correct answer, as your answer key says. The error is in the use of the singular form of the copula "is" with a plural subject.
The correct form of the copula is "are" because the ...
- 41.1k
33
votes
Accepted
Why is it "need" in "it need not be thus" instead of "needs"?
This is "modal need". The English verb "need" can be used as a normal verb
He needs a drink. I don't need a break.
And as a normal verb it has normal grammar. It is transitive ...
- 202k
32
votes
Should it be "runs" or "run" in the following sentence?
I think he was generalising what young ibex (plural) do in the face of danger: run to steeper ground.
In other words, he wasn't just saying that this particular ibex did that (which it did), but all ...
- 2,515
32
votes
Is "bananas is" possible by any chance?
If you use "banana" as a measured recipe ingredient, it's an uncountable, singular noun:
Banana can be used as a substitute for egg, as it binds the ingredients together.
The recipe says to ...
- 88.1k
28
votes
If I found two $5 bills on the ground, would it be acceptable to say "$10 are on the ground"?
No, most people would consider it incorrect to say "$10 are on the ground".
Sums of money are singular. We would say "$10 is on the ground".
If the dollars took the form of ten ...
- 23k
27
votes
"There IS/ARE rice, meat and tomatoes on my plate"
This sentence has three important factors to consider: it is an existential construction, the displaced subject of the sentence is a noun phrase coordination, and the coordination is a list (more than ...
- 858
25
votes
Accepted
"None of the kids were hungry" Or "None of the kids was hungry"
Both sentences are grammatical.
When you use the phrase "none of" in front of a plural noun or pronoun, you can use either a singular or plural form of a verb.
However, the plural form is common ...
- 27.1k
25
votes
Accepted
If "Olympics" is singular, why does it use "were"?
The word Olympics is plural. It's also a shortened expression of the Olympic Games.
The history of the games is discussed on the official website:
Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympic Games, ...
- 36.3k
24
votes
Accepted
Is "bananas is" possible by any chance?
His argument is that "bananas" refers to the substance that makes up the fruit, rather than the units, pretty much as chicken refers to the substance, or flesh, in "I like chicken" - not chickens. So ...
J.R.♦
- 109k
24
votes
In the sentence: "Drinking and driving IS dangerous", why does the verb "to be" need to be singular?
There, and is understood to mean "in combination with" hence the singular is appropriate. They are not individually dangerous (if you don't drive recklessly and drink in moderation) and that's why ...
- 121k
22
votes
Accepted
Why isn't the verb in this sentence singular?
Assuming that you found the question here, we can reasonably guess that the authors want readers to be free to choose more than one activity as being (among) the most fun.
In that case, which is a ...
- 9,967
22
votes
Is this sentence correct? "A lot of sugar have been added to the milk."
No, sugar is an uncountable noun, and A lot does not quantify it, so it takes has: A lot of sugar has been added to the milk.
However, if you quantify it, you may say: Two cups of sugar have been ...
- 4,130
22
votes
Is or are in this context
Well, if you were curious what combined footballer-cricketer your friend liked, you would say "Who is".
If you were allowing that the favorite footballer and the favorite cricketer might be two ...
- 6,426
21
votes
If "Olympics" is singular, why does it use "were"?
"We at ESL library decided to go with..."
I don't think you can really take such a decision as an authoritative source.
As they say "Olympics" is a collective or, more precisely, uncountable noun. ...
- 909
18
votes
Accepted
In the expression "There's got to be some" what does the 's stand for?
It stands for "has", but the full form is less likely because if you were writing formally (avoiding contractions) you would probably pay attention to the agreement.
Colloquially: "There's got to ...
- 23k
18
votes
Why is "help you save money" wrong if the subject was plural?
Actually both are correct. The subject can be taken as a plural conjunction of two items, or as a singular combined whole. I feel like the singular form (what your teacher suggested) is the more ...
- 12.2k
16
votes
Accepted
Exist or Exists?
Your choices are
The application needs to exist in the codebase.
where to exist is an infinitive phrase, or
The application exists in the codebase.
where exists is the verb.
- 66.1k
16
votes
Why isn’t the third person singular used in “The Lord bless you”?
The Lord bless you. = May the Lord bless you.
It uses similar grammar as May..., which sounds plural, but just without the word "may".
- 1,297
16
votes
Plurality in "A second set of motors [is/are] attached there"?
My sentence: "A second set of motors are attached there".
His correction: "A second set of motors is attached there".
In British English, both versions are correct (because ...
- 23k
15
votes
A group of boys is/are
Yes, you should feel awkward using boys is. But you should not so using a group (of boys) is.
You feel awkward because you think 'is' is for 'boys'.
You should not feel awkward because 'is' is for '...
- 65.8k
15
votes
When -s is used with third person singular. What's its use in this context?
Now, this is my best guess, because if you want to know why she did it, you need to ask her. I imagine the answer will be something along the lines of "that's how everyone does it", because it is ...
- 22.7k
15
votes
Accepted
Where is the subject for the verb "has"?
[How banks are defined in America] has changed over time.
The bracketed element is a subordinate interrogative clause (embedded question) functioning as subject of the sentence.
The meaning is:
"...
- 15.8k
15
votes
Accepted
Plurality in "A second set of motors [is/are] attached there"?
The version A second set of motors is attached here. is correct. The subject of "is" is the word "set", a singular noun. The preposition phrase "of motors" describes the ...
- 41.6k
14
votes
Accepted
More users equals/equal more profit
The subject of the sentence here is not really "users." It's the entire concept of "more users." The users aren't doing the "equaling." For this reason, "equals" is correct. You could think of an ...
- 4,650
14
votes
Accepted
When -s is used with third person singular. What's its use in this context?
It is becoming increasingly common during text messaging to write actions as if they are from a script, for example, words like laughs or shrugs describe an action that the other person is doing but ...
- 96k
13
votes
Accepted
"more than one does" or "more than one do"?
Your logic is impeccable; unfortunately the convention is to use "more than one does" even if it's technically a plural.
Digging deeper, I found this from the American Heritage Dictionary
When a ...
- 88.1k
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