In which one of the following sentences is the subject - verb agreement correct?
A. the sound of the waves are drowning out their cries for help.
B-either jim or i am going to the convention.
C-neither carol nor her children is coming to the reunion.
D- there is too many people to fit into this small room.
i was thinking it is C,but i realised that children is plural so verb also should be plural.
finlly i am thinking it is A,because waves are plural ...am i right,if not please correct. thanks in advance.
2006-09-27 10:37:17 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Higher Education (University +)
They are all INCORRECT.
A. The sound ... IS ... ("sound" is the subject, not "the waves")
B. Either Jim IS or I AM ... (use two verbs)
C. Neither Carol nor her children ARE ...(in neither nor constructions, the verb should always agree with the noun nearest it.)
D. There ARE too many ...("many" always takes a plural verb.)
P.S.
Also, just FYI, it is "grammar" :)
2006-09-27 11:25:12 · answer #1 · answered by Donna 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Sentence A cannot be correct because the subject of the sentence is "sound" not "waves. Therefore, it should be, "The sound of the waves is drowning out their cries for help." (Note: "of the waves" is a prepositional phrase. The subject cannot be part of a prepositional phrase.)
Sentence D cannot be correct because the subject "people" is plural and should go with the plural form of the "to be" verb. (In sentences with this construction, your true subject is after the "to be" verb. Therefore, it should be, " There are too many people to fit into this small room.
Sentence B and C may cause the most trouble. They are both using correlative conjuctions (either/or, neither/nor). When you use these type of conjuctions, the verb must match the nearest subject.
Sentence C cannot be correct because the verb needs to match the closest subject, which is "children." Therefore the sentence should be, "Neither Carol nor her children are coming to the reunion."
Sentence B is the correct sentence. The correct form of the "to be" verb is matched with the closest subject (I).
Hope this helped.
2006-09-27 18:05:20 · answer #2 · answered by Teacher VP 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The conjunction or does not conjoin (as and does): when nor or or is used the subject closer to the verb determines the number of the verb. Whether the subject comes before or after the verb doesn't matter; the proximity determines the number.
Either my father or my brothers are going to sell the house.
Neither my brothers nor my father is going to sell the house.
I see nothing correct about the agreement in any of those sentences. The only possibility is B because the others are definitely incorrect... but I don't believe B is correct either...
A - The sound IS
C - Neither carol nor her children ARE
D - There ARE
2006-09-27 17:44:21 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not A, because the sound IS drowning
not B, Jim and I stands for we, and we ARE going
Not D, there ARE too many people
C is closest, using neither and nor correctly. But if you use what I said about B, Carol nor her children substitues for THEY, and you do not say They IS COMING,but then look at C and B carefully. Either makes the subject singular, choosing between Jim or I, so actually, choice B would be your best bet.
2006-09-27 17:42:57 · answer #4 · answered by Jenny H 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
none of them are correct.
A- "Sound" is the subject; not "waves," "of the waves" is a prepositional phrase that is independent of subject/verb agreement. Sounds-are or Sound-is would be the correct subject/verb pairing; Sound-are is not.
B- "Either Jim or I are going;" because the same singular verb does not work with both "Jim" and "I;" "I am"/"Jim-am" doesn't agree any more than "Jim is"/"I is" does.
C- Carol and her children are plural; plurals don't "is," they "are."
D- "people" is plural; like C, people don't "is," they "are." "There is one person too many in this room" is okay; or "there are too many people."
2006-09-27 17:47:41 · answer #5 · answered by kent_shakespear 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Correct answer is "c". The neither/nor indicates a singular verb is required.
2006-09-27 17:42:38 · answer #6 · answered by Wanda 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's B. Think of it this way: if you get rid of Jim, you would say "I am going..." Athough "waves" is plural, the subject of that scentence is "sound."
2006-09-27 17:39:57 · answer #7 · answered by kaligirl 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"A" because you're looking at the word "sound", not "waves" because you never look at the object of the preposition
2006-09-27 17:41:16 · answer #8 · answered by janicemng 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
B is correct...use either/or together and use I as if it were alone.
2006-09-27 17:46:38 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
you should start with your spelling before moving on to something as complex as plain simple english. its "grammar".
2006-09-27 17:46:17 · answer #10 · answered by whatever_3645 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋