ENTC 3030 AGREEMENT

Agreement Worksheet Agreement is essentially a matching strategy: subjects and verbs express the same number; pronouns and their antecedents match in number and gender.

While this sounds simple enough, English has, as usual, enough strange forms to make the task challenging. The key idea in all cases is to think about your meaning rather than merely following rules.

Subject/Verb Agreement 1. Discount inverted sentence structure and intervening phrases, prepositional and otherwise.

Most opposed to wolf reintroduction and let-it-burn forest fire policy is the ranching population. The skull structure of the salamanders is intriguing. There are long-term problems with radioactive waste disposal.

2. "And" usually creates plural subjects, but other additive phrases don't: as well as, accompanied by, in addition to, etc.

The aspen as well as other common trees doesn't grow well in cities. The aspen and other common trees don't grow well here.

Note: When "and" joins two attributes of the same unit, the subject remains singular: The chief researcher and lab technician is too busy to see you.

3. "Every" and "each" usually are singular. Every student, teacher, and administrator has an interest in the university. Each workstation and each computer has its own hook-up.

4. Paired conjunctions--either/or, neither/nor-- that join singular subjects usually leave the subjects singular. Either NSF or NIH is a good choice for funding. Neither rain nor mist permeates drought- hardened ground. Revision or destruction helps writing to improve.

If one subject is singular and one is plural, the one nearer the verb controls its number. Neither the flasks nor the beaker was clean. Neither the beaker nor the flasks were clean.

5. Words that focus on sorting out individuals— each, either, neither, one

or denoting a general case— everyone, everybody, anyone

usually take singular verbs when they are subjects. Each of them has sufficient training. Everyone wants to do field work. Neither likes to wash glassware.

6. Collective nouns are singular when they denote the group as a whole and plural when they denote the individuals in the group.

A number were able to finish the experiment in time. A group of technicians is radioactively contaminated. A majority is needed for this vote. A majority of people are going to go. Statistics are inconclusive, so they can be distorted. Ironically, statistics is an imprecise subject.

Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement Pronouns have the same number and gender as their antecedents; the tricky part is determining the correct antecedent.

Many of the ideas noted before apply to pronoun relationships too: Each of the laboratories is accountable for its work. Everybody has the right to wear protective masks when they work with noxious chemicals. Neither the rat nor the mice show signs of stress in their brain-wave responses. Neither the mice nor the rat shows signs of stress in its brain-wave responses.

Relative pronouns too have the same number as their antecedents.

Tigers which are becoming extinct in some areas of India are endangered by vegetation destruction rather than hunting. It is the wildcats that are often blamed for attacks perpetrated by other animals. The one-and-only-one rule states that if all of a group are acting, plural is used, but if only one acts, the singular is used.

He is one of the scientists who are radioactive. He is the only one of the scientists who is radioactive. This procedure is the only one that is repeatable.

Homework: Choose the right answer and explain! 1. The equipment and the glassware showed (its, their) age. 2. Either the crystals or the powder must have lost (its, their) potency. 3. Neither the technicians nor the lab assistant (was, were) willing to change (his, their) attitude.

4. The board of editors (make, makes) (its, their) report. 5. My estimates of significance (differ, differs) from yours. 6. The administrator and scientist (is, are) developing a new plan. 7. Blue and red (is, are) useful in staining specimens.

8. She is the only one of all the scientists who (lack, lacks) training. 9. Every one of the figures (was, were) checked twice. 10. Good planning plus favorable funding conditions (was, were) responsible for the improvement.

11. The inventory (was, were) flasks of several sizes. 12. Each of these specimens had (its, their) limbs dissected. 13. The group of researchers (does, do) not agree on methods, but (it, they) (unites, unite) on issues.