12. Singular and Plural Verb Choices

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Verbs are made singular or plural by reference to their subject, so the subject must be properly identified.

DETERMINANTS OF SINGULAR AND PLURAL VERB FORMS

Making the correct choice between the singular and plural forms of a verb often presents a major grammar challenge in English. The choice requires answering two important questions:

1. What are the singular and plural forms of verbs? In many cases they are the same (e.g. in the past simple and past perfect tenses, and with “modal” verbs like will, can, should and must), but in many other cases a singular verb will need the ending -s and a plural will have no -s. This difference applies to the present simple and continuous tenses (knows, does not want, is going), the present perfect simple and continuous tenses (has known, has been helping), the past continuous tense (was standing) and the past tense of the verb BE (was).

2. Does the subject of the verb have a singular or a plural form? This question is important because the rule is that a singular subject must have a singular verb and a plural subject a plural verb. In other words, a verb and its subject must “agree” (see 204. Grammatical Agreement).

Advanced learners of English tend to know point 1 (except with verbs in the “subjunctive” form – see the end of 88. Exotic Grammar Structures 1, #6), but they can struggle with 2. This post therefore offers guidance with 2. It focuses on two separate problems – recognising the subject of a verb, and recognising whether that subject is singular or plural.

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RECOGNISING THE SUBJECT OF A VERB

Subjects of verbs can be recognised from the following characteristics:

1. They are usually nouns or pronouns. Exceptions are adjectives with the before them, like the poor (see 6. Adjectives with No Noun 1: People-Naming), and verbs with -ing or to, as in Drinking alcohol can be harmful (see 70. Gerunds) and To see Paris is to see the world (119. BE Before a “to” Verb).

2. They usually appear before the verb. For example, the subject in Plants need water is plants, not water. An exception appears to exist with the verb there is/are, e.g. There are problems here. However, some grammarians say there is actually the subject here, even though the verb is plural like problems (see 161. Special Uses of “There” Sentences).

3. They do not follow a preposition. In the sentence The second of the two positions (BE) preferable, the plural positions cannot be the subject of BE because it follows the preposition of. Hence, the subject must be the singular second, so that BE must become is rather than are. This rule about prepositions is rarely breakable, despite what grammar-checking software may say (see 275. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong 3, #3). For more about the rule, see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #5.

4. They do not describe another noun directly after them. In the sentence Consumer behaviours affect prices, there are two nouns before the verb, but consumer cannot be the subject because it describes the following noun behaviours (for more details, see 38. Nouns Used Like Adjectives). In this example, identifying the correct subject noun ensures that the verb has the right form. Sometimes it can even affect the very choice of verb (see 132. Tricky Word Contrasts 4, #1).

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RECOGNISING WHETHER A SUBJECT IS SINGULAR OR PLURAL

“Singular” and “plural” can be understood in two ways: as forms of a word or as meanings. In the first case, a singular noun has no ending while a plural one has -s (or an equivalent); in the second case, a singular noun represents one of what the noun represents, while a plural one represents more than one. In most cases the forms correspond to the meanings, but sometimes they do not. For example, nouns in their singular form with a before them sometimes represent all of the possibilities in the world rather than just one (see 34. Relative Pronouns and Commas). Usually, it is the forms of singular and plural that determine the form of the verb, not the meanings.

A quite serious problem is posed by “uncountable” nouns in English. These are nouns that cannot be given a plural form (see 110. Nouns without “the” or “a”). The problem is that sometimes their meaning seems to be plural, so that there can be a temptation whilst writing to give them a plural form – and hence to make the verb incorrectly plural as well – for example when referring to many pieces of baggage, paper, furniture or mail.

Some guidance on deciding whether a noun is countable or not is offered within this blog in posts with the title Noun Countability Clues. If you find you are using an uncountable noun as subject and you want to express a plural meaning, you have to exchange the noun for a countable synonym (e.g. letter for mail), or to use it after a countable individualising noun with of, as in pieces of paper, items of baggage and rounds of applause. For some special possibilities in professional writing, see 180. Nouns that Count the Uncountable.

Another pitfall is collective nouns – nouns whose singular form represents a group of people, such as crowd, audience, government, school, committee and Manchester United. These singular forms are exceptional in allowing a choice between a singular and a plural verb. A singular verb emphasises the collectiveness of the group, while a plural one emphasises the individuality of the group members.

Mostly, however, when we think of a noun to write, it will already have the correct singular or plural form, and this form will indicate how to write the verb. Usually, we can expect an-s ending to need a plural verb and the absence of one to need a singular. The main danger is that -s has an opposite meaning on verbs, so that confusion can easily occur.

Unfortunately, –s is not a wholly reliable sign of a plural noun. Some singular nouns end in it, and some plural ones do not (a similar surprising variability also affects -ing and -ed: see 71, Gerund and Participle Uses of “-ing” and 291. Subtleties of “-ed”). Examples of singular nouns ending in -s are a means, news, a species, a series, (an) analysis, a circus and (a) business. Words ending in -ics (politics, mathematics, gymnastics etc.) and the illnesses measles, mumps and shingles are also said by some books to be singular (uncountable) rather than plural because they typically take a singular verb.

The following are the main types of plural without -s:

1. Adjectives used like nouns, e.g. the poor, the unknowable (see 6. Adjectives with No Noun 1). These cannot have -s because it is only a feature of nouns.

2. Most pronouns (see 28. Pronoun Errors). Many plural pronouns have no ending at all. Of these, some are the same as their singular form: some, any, enough, the relative pronouns who[m]/ which/ that, and the interrogative pronouns who?/ which?/ whose?/ what? (see 285. Complexities of Question Words). Others have no singular form at all (all, both, two, three etc.). Apart from these, I becomes we, this becomes these, that becomes those, much becomes many, and he/she/it become they.

3. Many nouns with an irregular plural form: people, (wo)men, children, cattle, oxen, sheep, fish, teeth, feet, phenomena, analyses (singular = analysis), media, larvae, alumni, offspring and (air)craft. Some of these, like phenomena and larvae, have the plural ending of another language, from which they have been borrowed (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary). For more about offspring, see 201. Words with Complicated Grammar, #3.

4. Nouns with a singular form but always a plural meaning: clergy, police, staff, vermin, folk, the youth (meaning “young people” – see 175. Tricky Word Contrasts 6, #1).

5. Singular nouns connected by and, e.g. The President and his wife. It would be wrong to write was after this instead of were.

Now here is an exercise through which you can test your command of singular and plural verbs.

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PRACTICE EXERCISE: MATCHING SUBJECTS AND VERBS

For each of the verbs in brackets in the following sentences, identify one word that agrees (as subject) with it, and then write the verb in its correct present simple tense form. Answers are given below.

1. The availability of computers in the workplace sometimes (MEAN) that employees (YIELD) to temptation to engage in non-work activities.

2. In a recent employers’ survey a wide variety of computer functions (HAVE) been identified as a potential distraction in offices that (NEED) to be addressed.

3. The survey (REVEAL) that the average employee on many occasions (EMAIL) friends from the office computer, that a small number (FOLLOW) sports events online or (MAKE) social arrangements, and that on some occasions even online shopping (TAKE) place.

4. The problem that employers (HAVE) (ARISE) because a worker’s visible actions easily (GIVE) the wrong impression.

5. Office workers who (STARE) intently at a computer screen while the mouse busily (CLICK) away (TEND) to make supervisors think genuine work (BE) being done when in fact drastic action urgently (NEED) to be taken.

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ANSWERS: 1 =availability … MEANS, employees … YIELD; 2 = variety … HAS (but see below), that NEEDS; 3 = survey … REVEALS, employee … EMAILS, number … FOLLOW or FOLLOWS (see below), number … MAKE or MAKES, shopping … TAKES; 4 = employers … HAVE, problem … ARISES, actions … GIVE; 5 = who STARE, mouse … CLICKS, workers … TEND, work IS, action … NEEDS.

NOTE: The expressions a variety of and a number of are often taken as synonyms of many, so that the plural noun after of is thought of as the subject. Note also that subjects widely separated from their verbs are examples of interrupted structures (see 2. Reading Obstacles 1).

11. Reading Obstacles 6: Homonyms & Homographs

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Spellings shared by two different words can confuse readers who are unfamiliar with one of the words

THE PROBLEM OF MULTIPLE MEANINGS

The way something is written in English can very often be understood in more than one way. The alternative meanings may belong to a grammar structure (see 124. Structures with a Double Meaning 1), or to an individual spelling that we usually call a “word”. Expert speakers of the language mostly recognise the intended meaning of such structures or words on the basis of the situation or context where they are used.

Words with multiple meanings can be a problem for less experienced readers who know only one of the meanings. On hearing or reading the word being used with the meaning that they do not know, they can easily give it the meaning they know, with the result that they will either misunderstand the text or simply become confused. In the former case, an error will have occurred without the reader being aware of it, while in the latter, the confusion and distress will be made worse by the fact that the cause of the difficulty is not easy to recognise.

Various other Guinlist posts indicate the difficulty that English words can give if they have alternative meanings which are connected in some way (see 7. Metaphorical Meanings,  240. Nouns that End with “-ing”,  256. Unusual Meanings of Familiar Words and 280. Alternative Meanings of Action Nouns). Here, I want to consider the similar problem of a single spelling with unconnected alternative meanings, which dictionaries usually present as two (or more) completely different “words”. They are of two kinds.

In one group, the pronunciations of the words are the same too, making it that much easier to think there is only a single word. Examples are flatter (= either a verb meaning “please with untrue praise” or an adjective meaning “greater in flatness”) and colon (= either “punctuation comprising two dots in a vertical line” or “part of the intestine”). In the other group, the pronunciations are different, as in row (rhyming with flow), which means “a horizontal line”, and row (rhyming with now), which means “argue angrily”.

The technical name for word pairs of identical spelling and pronunciation is “homonyms”, while that for pairs with only identical spelling is “homographs”. Homo- means “same”, -nym means “name” and -graph means “writing” (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary). Homographs are an unfortunate result of the well-known problems of English spelling (see 29. Illogical Vowel Spellings).

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AN EXAMPLE OF A READING DIFFICULTY CAUSED BY A HOMONYM

To illustrate the problems that homonyms can cause for readers, consider the following extract, which was reported as difficult by a student from Hong Kong (see the technical article What can learners tell us about their reading difficulties?). Can you identify the troublesome homonym?

While concern in that first environmental crisis was with global collapse, the appropriate focus for social action and political pressure was nonetheless seen to be the individual state.

The problem is the word state. Does it mean “condition” (as in a state of excitement) or “country” (as in Head of State)? In fact, there is a clue that the intended meaning is the second. The word while, a typical indicator of two opposing ideas in the same sentence (see 216. Indicating Differences), suggests that state is an opposite of global. Since global means “world”, the “country” meaning of state is the one that makes the best sense as the opposite of it.

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FURTHER EXAMPLES OF HOMONYMS AND HOMOGRAPHS

1. Homonyms

Homonyms are so common in English that they tend to be given attention in most language skills courses, and hence to be a familiar concept to advanced learners of the language. For such learners, the need is simply to add further examples to those that are already known. In the hope of assisting this, here are a few homonyms that I have presented to my own students. Readers are invited to identify both meanings, using a dictionary where necessary.

Examples of Homonyms

BANK, FIRM, LEAVES, FILE, ARTICLE, SPOKE, TENDER, MESS, LEFT, SENTENCE, CASE, MASS, MATTER, RATE, POINT

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2. Homographs

One homoghraph type that is particularly worth being aware of is those whose different pronunciations represent different word classes, usually verbs versus nouns. The pronunciation difference nearly always involves a change of stress – i.e. of how strongly the different syllables of the word are said (see 125. Stress & Emphasis) – and sometimes also a change of vowels. Words that change only in stress are illustrated by upSET (verb) versus UPset (noun) and INcrease (noun) versus inCREASE (verb). It is very common for a stressed first syllable to indicate a noun (see 243. Pronunciation Secrets, #5).

When homographs have different vowel sounds as well as different stress, the variation usually reflects the tendency of unstressed English vowels to be pronounced as either /ә/ or /ı/ regardless of their spelling (see 41. Unexpected Vowels in Derived Words and 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud). Examples of homographs whose vowels change with their stress are analyses, convert, defect, estimate, invalid, object, perfect, permit, present, progress, record, refuse, reject, research, subject and survey.

The underlined words in this list are especially likely to cause pronunciation problems. Analyses can have its stress on either the first “a” or the second, the other one in each case needing to be pronounced /ә/. When the first “a” is stressed, the “y” is pronounced /aı/ and -ses is /zız/, the whole word being a verb. When the second “a” is stressed, the “y” is pronounced /ә/ and -ses is /si:z/, like seize, the whole word being a noun.

Estimate is always stressed at the beginning, but -mate can be either /meıt/ (verb) or /mәt/ (noun). For numerous similar examples, see 172. Multi-Use Suffixes, #4. Invalid can stress in-, causing -va- to be /vә/ and -lid to be /li:d/ (noun meaning “a person suffering long-term illness”), or it can stress -va-, making it /væ/ and causing -lid to be /lıd/ (adjective meaning “not valid”). In present, the “e”s can be /e/ + /ә/ (noun/adjective) or /ı/ + /e/ (verb).

This aspect of English pronunciation is one of the many good reasons why it is important to discover where vowels are typically pronounced /ә/ (see 202 Some Strategies for Learning English, #3).

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PRACTICE EXERCISE (HOMONYMS IN USE)

Here are some more sentences containing the more unusual of two homonyms. Try first to identify the homonym (answers are given afterwards) and then, if you do not know its intended meaning, to make a guess.

1. Wood infested with boring insects will show tiny tell-tale holes all over its surface.

2. The Bible portrays the Jewish and Christian God as an all-powerful “lord of hosts” in the “heavenly kingdom” of which he is the ruler.

3. When mothers saw their children being snatched away they rent their clothes in despair.

4. As a general scapegoat for the world’s troubles, population growth provides an excellent excuse for policy-makers to duck hard but related questions on international terms of trade, governance, monetary policy and the myriad other causal factors in the poverty cycle.

5. Current forces can present a major danger when tiredness begins to sap the strength and affect the movements of the long-distance swimmer.

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List of the Homonyms

1 = boring; 2 = hosts; 3 = rent; 4 = duck; 5 = current, sap.

10. Words with Unexpected Grammar 1

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Many grammar errors occur with words that do not follow the same rule as words like them in meaning

EXPECTED AND UNEXPECTED WORD GRAMMAR

When we use a new word, our expectations about its grammar can be influenced by our knowledge of the grammar of words it resembles. At one level, these words are all those in the same word class (the same “part of speech”) – verb, noun, adjective etc. The kind of grammar rules at this level are general ones for the whole class. Verb rules, for example, involve such things as the use of a “subject” or the choice of a tense. Rules of this kind are what I call “broad” grammar”.

At another level, the words that influence grammar expectations follow rules that are much more specific to them. Similar to what is sometimes called “usage”, these rules tend to be found more in dictionaries than grammar books. As an example, interested is typically followed by in, whereas bored has with; and while increased after prices can be changed into were increased, rose cannot be changed into were risen (see 113. Verbs that cannot be Passive). Rules of this kind are what I call “narrow” grammar. A fuller discussion of it is in the introduction to my grammar book.

When a narrow grammar choice has to be made, the similarity of the words that might influence it is often of meaning within the same word class. Consider what preposition the verb DIVIDE should have before a list of divisions (is divided … X, Y and Z). The right choice is into (see 123. Prepositional Verbs Containing a Noun). This is not very predictable: there is nothing in the meaning of either divided or into that helps. However, a clue can be obtained from the use of other verbs with a similar meaning to DIVIDE: CATEGORISE, CLASSIFY, GROUP, SEPARATE, SORT and SPLIT, all of which take into (see 162. Writing about Classifications). If you already know that one of them does, then you can guess that DIVIDE does too, and the chances are that you will be right.

This parallelism between words of similar meaning provides very useful help with the mammoth task of learning narrow grammar. The problem, however, is that numerous words – probably more than in broad grammar – do not act in the expected way, and like many exceptions tend to be used incorrectly – often, it seems, in the same way as the words like them. This is the problem I wish to consider here. My hope is that knowing about it and some of the commoner errors can bring significant improvements in grammatical accuracy.

The focus here is on words whose grammar differs from that of multiple words of similar meaning. Words whose grammar differs from that of a single word of similar meaning are separately considered in posts entitled Synonym Pairs with Contrasting Grammar.

Further Guinlist posts like this one are 140. Words with Unexpected Grammar 2,  242. Words with Unexpected Grammar 3 and 281. Words with Unexpected Grammar 4. Related to these is 284. Words with a Surprising Meaning.

Also worth viewing are 58. Optional Apostrophe Endings,  173. “Do Research” or “Make Research”? and 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive. For spelling and pronunciation problems caused by similar words behaving differently, see 41. Unexpected Vowels in Derived Words,  97. Verb Form Confusions and 188. Causes of Common Spelling Mistakes.

Note, though, that problems with narrow grammar are not all caused by the influence of similar-meaning words. An alternative common cause is complexity of a word’s own narrow grammar. Problems in this area are considered within these pages in posts entitled Words with Complicated Grammar.

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IDENTIFICATION EXERCISE: WORDS THAT BREAK NARROW GRAMMAR EXPECTATIONS

To assist appreciation of important narrow grammar trends and their exceptions, I offer the following “odd-one-out” exercise. The challenge is to identify one word in each list that would be grammatically wrong if it replaced the underlined word in the neighbouring sentence (for an explanation of “grammatically wrong” – which is not necessarily shown by an unlikely meaning – see 100. What is a Grammar Error?). Answers are given and explained later.

(a) High prices cause demand to fall.

Which one of the following cannot grammatically replace cause?

ALLOW, ASSIST, COMPEL, ENABLE, ENCOURAGE, FORCE, HELP, IMPEL, INDUCE, INSTIGATE, LEAD, MAKE, PERMIT, REQUIRE, STIMULATE.

(b) Children like to learn through playing.

AGREE, CHOOSE, DESIRE, ENJOY, LONG, LOVE, NEED, PREFER, WANT, WISH.

(c) High prices have an effect on demand.

A BEARING, A CONSEQUENCE, AN IMPACT, AN INFLUENCE.

(d) Skills can develop through a suitable task.

ACTIVITY, ASSIGNMENT, BRIEF, EXERCISE, FOLLOW-UP, HOMEWORK.

(e) Seminars are for talking about issues raised in lectures.

ARGUING, ASKING, DISCUSSING, ENQUIRING, FINDING OUT, SPEAKING, THINKING, WONDERING, WRANGLING.

(f) Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen.

COMPRISED, CONSISTED, CONSTITUTED, MADE.

(g) Opponents of nuclear power claim that the cost is too high.

ARGUE, ASSESS, BELIEVE, COMPLAIN, CONSIDER, CRITICISE, FEEL, MAINTAIN, REGRET, STATE.

(h) Poor hygiene can cause an outbreak of disease.

A CONTINUATION, GROWTH, AN INCREASE, A MANIFESTATION, AN OCCURRENCE, A SPREAD, SURVIVAL.

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ANSWERS AND EXPLANATIONS

Here are the above sentences with the incorrect words inserted:

(a) *High prices make demand to fall.

All of the verbs listed for this sentence have a cause before them and its consequence after. The consequence is expressed by the object of the verb (demand) combined with an “infinitive” to verb (to fall – see 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive, #7). MAKE differs in that the infinitive verb after its object must drop to: the correct wording above is …make demand fall (see 141. Ways of Using MAKE).

There are actually at least two other cause verbs whose following infinitive cannot have to: LET and HAVE (see 148. Infinitive Verbs without “to”, #2) – but they seem to be misused less often than MAKE. Perhaps the extra difficulty with MAKE results from the fact that its passive form does need an infinitive with to (Demand is made to fall …).

The need to drop to is not the only source of error with MAKE. For another, see 140. Words with Unexpected Grammar 2, #(h).

Many cause verbs, it should be noted, cannot be used at all with a following object + to verb. FACILITATE, for example, needs an object alone, or -ing alone, or a possessive + -ing, and ENTAIL allows only a that statement, or object alone, or object + -ing (see 232. Verbs with an Object + -ing). For more examples, see 32. Expressing Consequences.

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(b) *Children enjoy to learn through playing.

The infinitive to learn here should be learning. Infinitives are never correct directly after ENJOY, despite their possibility after most other verbs with the idea of “liking” or “wanting” (see 302. Verbs with a Partner Infinitive, #1). There is no logical reason why this is so – you just have to remember that ENJOY is different.

Another verb that like ENJOY necessitates -ing on any following verb is APPRECIATE. For some others, see 70. Gerunds. For other aspects of ENJOY, see 8. Object-Dropping Errors and 268. Types of “-self” Object, #2.

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(c) *High prices have a consequence on demand.

Although on is the right preposition between some synonyms of consequence and a noun saying who/what the consequence affects, consequence itself needs for. There are some others needing it too: an implication, repercussions and ramifications. For a general discussion of consequence-naming, see 32. Expressing Consequences.

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(d) *Skills can develop through a suitable homework.

The presence of a here requires a countable noun (see 110. Nouns without “the” or “a”), but homework is uncountable. To use this word, you must either combine it with a countable noun (a piece of homework, a homework task – see 180. Nouns that Count the Uncountable) or drop a. Otherwise, a countable synonym must be used.

The meaning similarity between all of the listed words here is the idea of a discrete activity with a clear purpose. The discreteness is perhaps the reason why most of the words are usable with a or plural -s (i.e. are “countable”). The probable reason why homework is an exception is its obvious relatedness to uncountable work.

For more on the unreliability of meaning as a guide to noun countability, see 14. Noun Countability Clues.

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(e) *Seminars are for discussing about issues raised in lectures.

After DISCUSS, about cannot be used. Although it has the same idea of “talk” or “think” that the other listed verbs have, it also contains the idea of “about” (like CONSIDER and DEBATE). Its meaning similarity to the other verbs is probably only one of various possible reasons why learners of English incorrectly use about after it; another is the need for about after the related noun discussion (see 42. Unnecessary Prepositions).

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(f) *Water is consisted of hydrogen and oxygen.

This passive form is incorrect because CONSIST is “intransitive” – unable to be used in the passive voice (see 113. Verbs that cannot be Passive). This grammatical feature of CONSIST cannot be deduced from its meaning – the other verbs listed for (f) all have roughly the same constituent-naming use (see 196. Saying what is inside Things) but are passive. The active form needed here is consists (without is).

A further possible reason for thinking *is consisted is right is that COMPRISE can be either active or passive with the same meaning (see 21. Active Verbs with Non-Active Meanings). Note that the active form of COMPRISE, like DISCUSS above, has no following preposition. The common error of adding of probably results from the need for of after both CONSIST and BE COMPRISED.

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(g) *Opponents of nuclear power criticise that THE COST IS TOO HIGH.

All of the verbs listed for this sentence are of the reporting kind – indicating saying or thinking and usable to link someone else’s words (capitalised) with their author (see 150. Verb Choices with Reported Speech). Criticise is the only one that cannot make the link with that: it needs a noun or pronoun after it, with any following verb in the -ing form after for or as (see 279. Grammatical Differences between Citation Verbs). Thus, a correct ending to the above sentence might be …criticise the cost as (being) too high.

For other reporting verbs that similarly need as, see 92. Verbs with an Object + “As”.

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(h) *Poor hygiene can cause an increase of disease.

All of the words listed for this sentence are “action” nouns – derived from verbs and similar in meaning. This means that they can all be followed by a noun that, if they had been verbs, would have been their subject. Disease is such a noun here.

The normal means of including a subject-like noun next to an action noun is either by or of. Of is the correct choice with all of the other nouns here – but not with increase, which needs a rather unexpected in instead. For a fuller explanation, see 49. Prepositions after Action Nouns 2.

Various synonyms of increase (and decrease) also need in instead of of or by. For a list see 115. Surveying Numerical Data.