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It means that the verb-predicate agrees with the subject in number and person.
Our only guide was the stars.
The stars were our only guide.
The verb-predicate is used in the singular if the subject is expressed by:
1. An infinitive or infinitives:
To labour in peace was all he sought.
To love and to be loved was his dream.
2. A clause:
How you persuaded them is beyond my understanding.
Where you found them does not concern us.
Note: If by two clauses, the plural predicate is used.
What I say and what I do are my own affair.
3. A numerical expression of arithmetic calculation (addition, subtraction, division):
Two and five is seven. Ten minus two is eight.
Twenty divided by five equals four.
Note: Multiplication presents an exception as the verb may be in the singular or in the plural.
Twice ten is/are twenty.
4. The word-group “many a + noun”:
Many a lie has been told.
5.With here - there constructions followed by subjects of different number, the verb-predicate agrees with the first subject:
Here is Tom and James.
There was a young woman and two children in the yard.
There were two children and a young woman in the yard.
6. Plural words and phrases count as singular if they are used as names, titles, quotations, etc.:
“Fathers and Sons” is the most popular of Turgenev’s novels.
“Senior Citizens” means people over sixty.
Note: The titles of some works which are collections of stories, etc., however, can be singular or plural:
The Canterbury Tales exist/exists in many manuscripts.
Дата публикования: 2014-10-29; Прочитано: 1011 | Нарушение авторского права страницы | Мы поможем в написании вашей работы!