1

English does not have a plural form of who; Spanish does– quien quienes nonintervention principle will be addressed shortly. 2

Sometimes we omit either. Once again, usage seems to explain this better than a “rule”. 3

Which is correct for you? There is a girl and two boys in the room. Or There are a girl and two boys in the room. 4

I hope that by now you are convinced that usage is often a more accurate guide that so-called rules. This explains why almost all Americans say It’s me instead of It’s I. They may be violating a prescriptive rule, but they are following standard usage. So, are you prescriptive or descriptive? If you are going to describe American English as it really is (remember that we are pretending that there is one variety), then usage must be used as the basis for any rule; however, I find it easier to accept variation in usage than variation in the application of “rules”. 5

6

The Copula & Subject-Verb Agreement Part 3 ENGLISH 5050: English Syntax and Morphology All quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from Chapter 4 of The Grammar Book, 2nd edition. Robert F. van Trieste, Ph.D.

clauses Relative-clause antecedents Marsha is one of those rare individuals who have/has finished the M.A. early. “Traditional [prescriptive] grammars maintain that the antecedent of who is individuals and thus have is the correct verb form. This antecedent rule conflicts with the nonintervention principle; also it does not agree at all with the preferences of [some] native speakers. . .” Clausal and phrasal subjects “Traditional [prescriptive] grammars tell us that when a clause functions as a subject, the subject-verb agreement is singular. . .” That the children want friends doesn’t surprise me. Reading books is my hobby.

The Proximity Principle either . . . or and neither . . . nor “For the [above] correlatives, traditional grammarians argue for a proximity rule; that is, subject-verb agreement should occur with the subject noun nearest to the verb.” Either my sister or my brothers are going to do it. Native speakers do not always follow the proximity principle. “They support it more strongly for either . . . or than they do for neither . . . nor.” Neither the students nor the teacher like/likes that textbook.

The Proximity Principle: 2 There is/are A “case where the proximity principle [applies] and where traditional grammar would not prescribe its use is in sentences beginning with there followed by cojoined noun phrases.” There is/are a girl and two boys in the room. Note: In spoken discourse, many native speakers use the contracted there’s as a generic substitute for both there is and there are even when followed by a clearly plural noun preceded by plural quantifiers. ?There’s two books on the desk.

Principle of Nonintervention “Many reference grammars make a point of emphasizing that a singular subject noun or pronoun should take a singular verb inflection regardless of what else occurs between the subject and the verb.” When nouns “are subjects, the nonintervention principle seems to be well supported.” The boy, not his parents, is/?are being punished. “However, when the subject followed by a prepositional phrase is either or neither, the nonintervention principle weakens . . .” Neither of them is/are ready for marriage.

End