(singular) or
trousers (plural). Some words (like staff) have a
singular form but can be used with plural verbs in some contexts, so one
needs to be familiar with the word one is
using:
(8) The group is large.
(9) His trousers are wool.
(10) The staff is large.
(11) The staff have small offices. | | | | | | | |
Person. Our examples of subject-verb agreement in number have
included agreement in person. As a grammatical term, person refers
to the relationship between the speaker, the addressee(s), and the action.
In practice, this is mainly a matter of those personal pronouns
used as subjects. The pronouns I and we are in the
first person because the speaker is included. The pronoun
you is in the second person, because it refers to the
person(s)
addressed. The pronouns he, she, it, and they are in
the third person, as are all nouns. Verbs have a special form for
the third person present singular. All other persons use the same form of
the
verb, generally the base form of the verb:
(12) (a) I rock. |
(b) You rock. |
(c) He rocks. |
(d) She rocks. |
(e) It rocks. |
(f) We rock. |
(g) You rock. |
(h) They rock. | | | | | | | | |
Except for the eccentric verb be, there are no distinctive
verb forms for number or person in the past tense:
(13) (a) I rocked. |
(b) You rocked. |
(c) He rocked. |
(d) She rocked. |
(e) It rocked. |
(f) We rocked. |
(g) You rocked. |
(h) They rocked. | | | | | | | | |
In addition to distinguishing number in the past tense, be is
also unique in having a distinctive form for the first person
present singular, and in not using its base form at all in the present
tense:
(14) (a) I am, I was. |
(b) You are, you were. |
(c) He is, he was. |
(d) She is, she was.. |
(e) It is, it was. |
(f) We are, we were. |
(g) You are, you were. |
(h) They are, you were. | | | | | | | | |
Subject-Verb Agreement Problems. The subject-verb agreement rule
may seem simple enough when we have only a single noun and verb, but there
are non-standard dialects of English which have abandoned showing number
on the verb. In those dialects, sentence (15) is a perfectly acceptable
sentence.
Truth be told, we have no difficulty in understanding the meaning of
such a sentence, though we have marked it with an asterick, our convention
for marking expressions as grammatically unacceptable. After all, English
has been abandoning various inflections for many centuries now.
Nevertheless, a lack of subject-verb agreement is a relatively noticeable
departure from Standard English, and users who make such "errors" are well
advised to learn the standard form, at least for formal speech and
writing.
Even speakers of Standard English may get confused about subject-verb
agreement when the main noun (known as the simple subject) comes
with a bunch of modifying material in the subject noun phrase (the
complete subject), especially if that modifying material includes
noun phrases which differ in number from the main subject noun phrase, as
in a sentence like this:
(16) My second cousin once-removed George,
whose parents spoiled him badly even as an adult,
stinks. |
We'll look at this problem again after we have dealt with some more
complicated subject NPs.
Gender. In theory, we can also think of English subjects and
verbs agreeing in gender, the sex ascribed to the subject noun.
In practice, English verbs don't show gender, and we must infer it from a
noun phrase. Gender becomes an issue when we are talking about animate
beings and must later refer to the noun phrase by a personal pronoun,
since the personal pronoun must agree with the antecedent noun phrase it
refers to in number, person, and gender.
If the sex of the animate being referred to is unknown or indeterminate,
choosing either "he" or "she" is likely to offend some readers. Some
authors alternate between the two, an option which works best when applied
to chapters of a longer work; in short essays, the effect is simply
confusing. If one must make a choice, the masculine pronoun might seem
preferable, as in sentence (16), since English has historically used the
masculine tense in such cases, but there is little profit in unnecessarily
offending readers, and that choice is bound to do so:
(17) The student should make a point to see his professor
in his office. |
There is no generally satisfactory solution to such problems. On an
informal basis, many of us use
a plural pronoun with a singular antecedent, even to modify singular
nouns, as in sentence (17). Unfortunately, this handy solution violates
the rule that pronouns should agree with their antecedent, and so is
unacceptable in the eyes of many.
(18) The student should make a point to see their professor
in their office. |
A variety of gender-neutral animate singular pronouns have been
suggested. Probably the best known are the Spivak pronouns, named for
Michael Spivak, found here in sentence (19). Even in academic circles,
the use of these can baffle readers, so one probably shouldn't use them
in most cases, even though they fill an obvious need:
(19) The student should make a point to see eir professor
in eir office. |
Some authors deliberately alternate he and she from
sentence to sentence or chapter to chapter, a tactic which is
unnecessarily annoying, although it can work in longer works. In
some cases, one may be mandated to use he/she or some
variant thereof, as in sentence (20). Readers are getting more used to
seeing this in official prose, but it plays hell with sentence rhythm and
probably should be a last resort.
(20) The student should make a point to see his/her
professor in his or her office. |
If one possibly can do so, it is desirable to revise the sentence to
avoid having to choose between masculine and feminine pronouns when the
context doesn't make the choice clear. The sentences below represent some
of the possible ways of doing so: making everything plural (21), simply
repeating the original noun (22), rewriting the sentence to allow the use
of the indefinite pronoun one (23), and rewriting to avoid
pronouns entirely (24). Any of these may be the best solution in a
particular case.
(21) Students should make a point of seeing their professors in
their offices.
(22) A student should make a point to see the student's
professor in the professor's office.
(23) An office visit to one's professor is a good
idea.
(24) Office visits give a student and a professor an opportunity
to get to know each other outside of the classroom. | | | |
Gender issues in pronoun use are obviously part of a general concern
with avoiding language which makes assumptions that may be seen as
excluding some of one's readers. In the sentence whose variations we've
been following, using the generic masculine for a student probably doesn't
make much difference, except in certain disciplines, but using a pronoun
that seems to assume that professors will be male might well offend some
female readers. Paying attention to one's pronouns may help one avoid
other unnecessarily off-putting expressions as well.
Just for the Record: Agreement in Verbs. We call it subject-verb
agreement, but only the verb with an ending showing tense has to agree with the
subject. In the simple sentences we have considered so far, there is only one verb
and it shows the tense. When we deal next with questions, we'll encounter modals and
other auxiliary verbs. Modals do not show number, person, or gender, and if there is
no modal in a sentence, only the first of any other auxiliaries will agree with the
subject.
How Much of This Will be on the Test?
Number, person, and gender can be attributed to nouns and are found in
personal pronouns. Verbs are said to be in agreement with their subjects.
Pronouns also "agree" with the nouns or noun phrases they refer to. You should be
able to supply the correct form and identify incorrect ones in tests of agreement.
You should also remember the meaning of collective noun.
|
Some nouns have plural form but can still
be treated as singular: