Grammar Question: Subject-Verb Agreement?

Question

Would "their" be singular or plural?
"Their" would refer to two or more individuals.
For example: "their paintings/portraits..." Would the correct answer be "their painting/portrait," if each person makes his/her own painting?
Another instance: "...a look of surprise on their faces..." Is that correct as is, or should it be "a look of surprise on their face?"

Thanks to those who help!

Answer 1

"Their" is NEVER singular. That is one of the most irritating grammar mistakes I encounter as both an editor and as an English teacher. People think that "their" can be used as a gender-neutral singular pronoun. It can't--pronouns must agree in number with their antecedents (the nouns they replace). For instance:

WRONG: Every student must turn in their homework on time.

CORRECT: Students must turn in their homework on time. (Corrected by making the antecedent "student" plural).

CORRECT: Every student must turn in his homework on time.

NOTE: (I am not excluding females here. When referring to a person whose sex is unknown or irrelevant, the use of the masculine "him" is the "default setting." English speakers (and just we Americans at that) are the only ones I know who throw a fit about including both sexes when it doesn't really matter. Speakers of French, Russian, and Spanish don't seem to have a problem with this. I haven't studied any other languages in depth, so I can't account for any other languages.

But, in deference to the vociferous feminist militia, I will include another alternative.

CORRECT: Every student must turn in his/her homework.

Hope this clears it up for you.

Answer 2

This is not a question about subject-verb agreement, by the way. It's about pronoun-antecedent agreement.

If there are two people, and each person makes one painting, resulting in two total paintings, the paintings are, "their paintings". (Plural people, plural paintings) There is no way to indicate that each person made one painting with the determiner.

The same reasoning leads us to "a look of surprise on their faces."

I think you're second-guessing yourself.

And, I have to say that I disagree wholeheartedly with Chancluda, who claims that "they" is never singular, when it is clearly used as a gender-neutral singular pronoun regularly by native speakers of English all the time. It's just that some grammarians, like Strunk and White, don't want them to do that, so they pretend that it doesn't exist. I think it's quite a natural thing to do, considering that we often want to talk about people whose gender we don't know. It seems less awkward than using "he" for everyone and the classic "he/she" or "s/he" or many other strategies that people use. In fact, people have been using singular they for quite a long time. I've seen an example in Jane Austen's writing, for example.

Answer 3

Their is the possessive form of "they/them." Therefore, it's plural.
If each individual completed a painting/portrait, then the correct agreement would be "their paintingS/portraitS."

Each has a look of surprise on his face OR There were looks of surprise on their faces.

Answer 4

For example: "their paintings/portraits..." Would the correct answer be "their painting/portrait," if each person makes his or her own Painting/Portrait

The correct one would be the first one:
Their pantings/protraits. Is correct

The correct form for the second one is:

A look of surprise on their faces.

For singular it would be: A look of surprise on his/her face. That is not what we have here.

Answer 5

It depends on the context. As in the second example "a look of surprise on their faces" is correct in most contexts; however, if something like "Both the girls stared at me with a look of surprise on their face." then it would be appropriate not to put the "s" on the end of the noun in question. Also, it would always be "their portraits" when mentioned in an individual context (one portrait per person as you specified) and "their portrait" when refering to a single portrait done for more than one person.

"Their" is a pronoun that implies plurality; however, its usuage does not accompany a specific grammatical form.

Answer 6

good question! many english speakers use "their" incorrectly. It is a plural signifying more than one person...."Bob and June are artists. Their paintings sell for $1000 each."

Common incorrect usage is what is driving you crazy. Many people say "a look of surprise on their face" when describing a single person. It should be phrased " A look of surprise on HIS face", or "a look of surprise on HER face", or if you're descripbing a group of people "a look of surprise on THEIR faces".

I hope this helps.

Answer 7

You're correct. In the primary example the field and verb agree. It is a little bit unusual seeming, out of order, with the item after the field however earlier than the verb. With promoting you need to do this to position the emphasis in which you want it although. It's now not literature. I'm happy you made certain of the contract of field and verb. I see extra errors like that during my nearby paper.

Answer 8

"if each person makes his/her own painting?"

Their paintings/portraits is correct. Also, their faces is correct.

Answer 9

plural but it depends on what you mean to say:

"a look of surprise on their faces" would be correct

"a look of surprise on their face" would mean they are conjoined twins whose faces are attached.



"their painting/portraits" means they have many painting/portraits.

"their painting/portrait" means there is only one painting/portrait that they painted together/are in or photographed together.

Answer 10

their painting would refer to one or more people who own a painting - eg a group buying one painting. alternatively it could be one painting of more than one people.

If each person has their own painting it would still be their paintings.

in the second faces is plural to agree with more than one person. "They had look ... on their faces"

Hope this helps