Subject Verb Agreement Sentence Correction

Question

Request you all to kindly solve my doubts with explanations. TIA

1) It is good service that make/makes a restaurant great

2) These/That kinds/kind of apples are too sour

3) Three quarters of the work is /are done

4) Everyone in the fraternity has his / his or her own set of prejudices

5) Time and Tide wait/waits for none

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear ayusania , Great questions! I'm happy to respond. :-)

First of all, here are a couple free blog articles that you may find helpful. Subject-Verb Agreement on GMAT Sentence Correction GMAT Sentence Correction: Indefinite Pronouns and Agreement 1) It is good service that makes a restaurant great . Everything is singular in that sentence, so we need the singular verb. The word " that " is an example of a relative pronoun: relative pronouns open noun-modifier clause and typically, according to the Modifier Touch Rule pattern, they "touch" the target noun. Thus, we can tell the proper number of the verb inside the clause by looking at the target noun: ...service that makes ... ...restaurants that make ... ...a cook who makes .... ...waiters who make .... 2) This one depends on meaning. Suppose I think one kind of apple, Kind X, is too sour. Then I would say: This kind of apples IS too sour . Notice the singular verb, because the subject " kind " is singular. Conversely, it may be my opinion that two different categories of apples, both Kind X and Kind Y, are too sour. Then, it would be correct to say: These kinds of apples ARE too sour . Which one is correct depends on meaning---as is often the case on the GMAT SC! 3) Three quarters of the work is done . This one raises the gigantic issue of countable/vs. uncountable nouns. See: GMAT Grammar: Less vs. Fewer Countable nouns are anything that comes in a collection of individual items that we can count: people, purchases, stores, cars, gallons of milk , etc. Uncountable nouns are anything that doesn't have individual parts but is always experienced as a continuous whole: time, space, money, debt, work, love, democracy, happiness , etc. Countable nouns tend to be in the plural, unless we are talking about just one. Uncountable nouns tend to be singular. The trick part is when we start talking about parts: half of, some of, three quarters of, almost none of , etc. Any part of a countable set is considered plural. Any part of a uncountable entity is considered singular. Thus: Three quarters of the people are happy. Three quarters of the work is done. Some of the horses have escaped. Some of the forest is for sale. None of the cars are parked where they should be. None of the traffic comes through this neighborhood. 4) Everyone in the fraternity has his own set of prejudices. What is particular curious about the example you chose is that a " fraternity ," by definition, is a residence for males only. Women would live in a " sorority ." Thus, in trying to ask about gender, you gave one of the very few examples that would apply only to one gender and thus would involve no ambiguity about the pronoun. Let's consider a more general case. In the modern workplace, the employees of almost any company includes both genders. Thus, we could consider this sentence: Each employee is required to keep his/her/his or her desk clean . What's trick about this is that the rules of grammar are in flux. The extremely traditional and conservative answer would be simply to default to the male pronoun in all cases. Traditional : Each employee is required to keep his desk clean . According to this traditional view, it's understood that the generic " his " implicitly includes both genders. This traditional approach has fallen under tremendous criticism from feminist over the last half century, and few people would simply use this as a default any more. What is the alternative a) the either/or Each employee is required to keep his or her desk clean . In some less formal contexts this is used, but it's wordy and usually considered a bit sloppy. The GMAT would not touch this with a 10 foot pole. b) plural Each employee is required to keep their desk clean . This is quite common in American colloquial English, but is grammatically incorrect and a logical fallacy. Anyone with any high standards about language would avoid this. This would be 200% wrong on the GMAT. c) if possible, rephrase Each employee is required to keep a clean desk . This is what the GMAT usually does, and what is often done in the business world: simply rephrase the sentence to avoid the use of any pronoun. This skirts the issue entirely. Here, we can create an elegant sentence without the pronoun, but that's not always possible. d) alternating This is what I use, and what I have seen often in academic writing. Suppose I were writing an essay about preparing for the GMAT, and suppose I had several sentences in which I used a singular pronoun to refer to hypothetical individual students. I would just switch off, using the masculine pronoun in one sentence, then the feminine in the next, back and forth. That way, no gender preference is shown, and grammar and logic are intact. That's helpful is one is writing a whole paragraph with multiple sentence, but where does that leave us with a singular sentence. I will share with you my own personal view on this. If I have just one sentence about something in the professional world, and I have to use an individual pronoun, I almost always use the feminine pronoun. One might say it's a kind of grammatical affirmative action that may get people to challenge their assumptions. Thus, I would write: Each employee is required to keep her desk clean . Grammatically correct and logically sound. Of course, the employees are of both genders, but in using the feminine I hope, in a subtle way, to call attention to the valuable contributions of intelligent and talented women all around us. 5) Time and Tide wait for none. This is what is called a compound subject . When we have two singular nouns joined by the word " and ," this creates a plural subject. It's important recognize that the idea of a compound subject does not include what are called additive phrase ( such as, including, as well as , etc.) The word " and " puts two nouns in parallel and sets them at equal status, thus creating a plural subject. By contrast, any information included in an additive phrase is NOT part of the subject. Western Europe and the USA value democracy. (plural compound subject, plural verb) Western Europe, including France and Spain, values democracy. (singular subject with additive phrase, singular verb) Western Europe, as well as the USA, values democracy. (singular subject with additive phrase, singular verb) Finally, the rule for " and " is very easy, but the rule for " or " is trickier. If we , we use a singular verb. If we have , we use a plural verb. BUT, if we link a singular noun and a plural noun with " or ," then the verb agrees with the second element, with the one closer to the verb. China or Japan is sending diplomats. = two singular nouns, singular verbs The East Asian nations or the Western European nations are sending diplomats. = two plural nouns, plural verbs China or the Western European nations are sending diplomats. = verb agrees with second noun, which is plural The Western European nations or China is sending diplomats. = verb agrees with second noun, which is singular Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

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Subject Verb Agreement Sentence Correction

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