If you know that list is the subject, then you will choose is for the verb. If it is the subject of a verb, this verb is plural. You can also consult grammar girl or a good grammar book, like grammatically correct, by anne stilman, which were my sources for this post. Since staff is singular, we treat it grammatically as singular. Ive written seven books about language including a new york times bestseller. In north american english staff senses 1 and 2 can only be singular. Staff definition is a long stick carried in the hand for support in walking. In 24 pages, the child will read singular and plural nouns. Double negative5 waysgrammarknowing youbrainnovelsnerdadvicewriting.
The trick with these words is that when the group is acting in harmony, you must use the singular form of the verb. When more than one modifies a singular noun, it goes with a singular verb. As you say, the speaker is not thinking of a particular problem, but of one or another, or perhaps more than one. In this case, that word is novels, so you use a plural verb. Good information from thefreedictionary quoting american heritage dictionary as its source. These nouns present singular problems lets talk about nouns with split personalities. When you are thinking of the couple as two separate people.
As regdwight pointed out, this was discussed previously with regards to company names. I will still get a bit cranky when i receive complaints from those with a lack of knowledge about this grammar point. Subject and verb agreement with collective nouns grammar. Grades singular and plural nouns common core aligned.
Weve created a color singular and plural nouns poster for your classroom, a color copy of the lesson for your smart board, and black line masters of the lesson and activities for your students. Grammar tip staff is or staff are ontario training. If the collective noun staff is acting as a single unit, use the singular verb. Therefore, the plural pronouns are and their as well as the plural noun voices so that they are all in agreement. Subjectverb agreement refers to having the subject and the verb in a sentence match, both being either singular or plural. However, you can use staffs as a thirdperson singular verb meaning to work or operate. A singular subject involves a single item or person. However, the subject is one, which is singular and takes a singular verb. On a national book tour, grammar girl stopped in minneapolis and took part. The commonest of these are the collective nouns which stand for a group or collection of people or things. This lesson builds grammar skills by understanding and using singular and plural nouns. How to get subjects to agree with verbs everything after.
Singular and plural nouns grade 1 collection printable. This sounds odd because we are talking about more than one person, which is why many people use a plural verb. No one wants a grammar argument, so if your subjects and verbs are fighting, you have a problem on your hands. Staff is a collective noun and should have a singular verb, i.
The staff at my local supermarket are very helpful. This means that people is the object of the preposition. Because the english language can be a touch on the unexpected side, the answer to that is that its both. Grammar girl covers everything from punctuation and grammar to style and voice. Grammar girl assists minnesotanice armchair editors minnpost. A subject will come before a phrase beginning with of. Looking for something to teach plural nouns in first grade or for differentiating with other grade levels. As we wrote in 2012, the word what can be construed as either singular or plural. Does british english treat the word staff as plural. Perfect for differentiating to meet each students needs, this collection features resources on singular and plural nouns for students learning at and above grade level. We use singular or plural depending on where we live. This is an easy to use packet to teach singular and plural nouns.
Subjectverb agreement grammar rules the blue book of. Indefinite pronouns can take a singular or plural verb number follows the same ruling used with the indefinite pronouns all, any, more, most, and some. Technically, alumni is the masculine plural form of the noun, but it can be used for either a group of mixed gender or a group of men. The staff are working on many projects for the holiday party. These are singular when they refer to something singular i. Whether you are a grammar phobe seeking guidance, a parent looking for a tutorial that your kids will enjoy and therefore use or a writer seeking a fun reference manual for frustrating recurring questions, grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing will likely satisfy. Mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller. In a sentence starting with a singular principal subject wed choose singular verbs.
Singular and plural nouns anchor charts, flip books, activities, games, and more. Now you can listen to the grammar girl podcast on youtube. The quick answer a collective noun can be considered as either singular or plural depending on the sense of the sentence. For example, what verb should she use in a sentence like this.
Kelly asked whether andor in a subject makes the verb singular or plural. Now, dont get worried and dont be like why do i need to learn this. Find out what grammar expert, grammar girl, has to say about it. When it comes to indefinite pronouns, grammarians disagree about whether words such as everyone and somebody are singular or plural when you use a pronoun to refer to them. Many people raised on traditional grammar consider staff are is wrong. Collective nouns example of collective noun grammar. Because they are not working together, the collective noun choir becomes plural. While the internet might be full of grammar resources, sometimes it can be a challenge to dig through to find something with a reading level that wont interfere with learning grammar concepts. When all is used with a plural noun, it means every, and the verb agrees all the countries were represented at the games when all is used with a singular noun, with or without of, it means entire and takes a singular verb all the country was in mourning to use your examples, you could say all the books are expensive and all the book is in latin which makes sense, but isnt as good. Many of the mba entrances including cat test students on the questions 10 must know rules for subject verb agreement grammar read more. The phrase more than one can be either singular or plural, depending on how its used, according to the american heritage book of english usage.
So you could treat a collective noun as singular if it referred to a single entity, and plural if it referred to a number of individuals. Does a collective noun take a singular or plural verb form. It is no different for us than a stickstaff in terms of grammar. The staff in the council dropin centre dont know their arses from their elbows. When you use a collective noun, it may be followed by either a singular or plural verb, depending on whether you are thinking of the group as a unit, in which case it will be singular, or as a.
I often come across sentences that will talk about a company doing something, and it will be phrased like, apple have released a new phone. Singular or plural verbs with one of the grammar girl. Data is often treated as a plural noun in writing related to science, mathematics, finance, and computing. Half holiday and holidays mind as a noun opinion reason reported speech. When the subject of the sentence is a single noun followed by another element tagged on by a phrase such as accompanied by, as well as, or together with, then the verb should be singular and not plural. The concept of each singular noun contrasted with all plural nouns is not relevant here any can refer to one or to all, to several or to some part of. Thats because latin grammar has a lot more distinctions based on gender than english grammar does. Grammar girl is your friendly guide to the english languagewriting, history, rules, and cool stuff.
Grammar girl quick and dirty tips for better writing listen to. These include words such as audience, committee, crew, family, government, group, team, and many others. Grammar girl presents the ultimate writing guide for students. How to use those tricky apostrophes diary of a word nerd. If the three aficionados were all working together on the same song, we would use singular nouns and pronouns. Graduates or former students of a particular educational institution.
Collective nouns grammar girl quick and dirty tips. When it has the singular sense of one set, it takes a singular verb, even when series is followed by of and a plural noun. Subjectverb agreement grammar girl quick and dirty tips. Some singular nouns can be used with either a singular or plural verb. I will continue to use plural verbs and agreement with a collective noun, when appropriate. Several listeners have recently asked about this conundrum. The noun can be singular, plural or an uncountable noun.
Keep in mind, though, that some people consider the singular data incorrect. Two nouns joined by and are normally treated as plural and take a plural verb. A plural noun is a word for two or more persons, places, or things. Yes, you can still write your first novel 01082020. Heres why you still have time to write your first novel. Generally british english treats staff in the sense of a bunch of people making an institution work as plural. For example, linda asks, is everyone and, likewise. If its too hard to make a decision on singular or plural, precede your collective noun with words like members of, forcing you to go plural. Learn whether collective nouns take plural verbs or singular verbs. The truth is that none can be singular or plural, but many people. Some other examples of collective nouns are board, committee, company, organization, department, and faculty.
People is not a collective noun like team or staff. A singular subject she, bill, car takes a singular verb is, goes, shines, whereas a plural subject takes a plural verb. By maeve maddox british and american style guides tend to agree that collective nouns like audience, committee, and data can be construed as either singular or plural, according to whether the word is perceived as a unit or as individual items. We cover punctuation, grammar, style, word histories, idioms, and more. This convention is well established and widely followed in both edited and unedited writing. We can use all with a plural noun to make a generalization about an entire group of something. In the above sentence, the prepositional phrase is in four people. Singular or plural after a company name hi, ive been seeing this for a while, and i was just wondering about it. If the collective noun is meant to highlight the actions of discrete individuals who are all doing different things, use the plural verb. When a compound subject contains both a singular and a plural noun or pronoun joined by or or nor, the verb should agree with the part of the subject that is nearer the verb. The normal approach in english to creating plurals is to add an s. When you are thinking of the couple as two separate people doing separate things, you would probably use a plural verb.
However, modern grammarians now say collective nouns can take either a singular or plural verb depending on the context. Elsewhere, most english speakers treat it as a singular mass noun. Any english grammar today a reference to written and spoken english grammar and usage cambridge dictionary. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing libsyn directory. See section 334 for how to make single letters plural. Ontario training network grammar tip staff is or staff are. Do you have any questions regarding plurals, possessives, or plural possessives. When two or more singular nouns or pronouns are connected by or or nor, use a singular verb. Todays question is about whether or not the word series is singular or plural. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. I n grammar, number is also called grammatical number noun, pronoun, adjective and verb has the number categories singular and plural number we call noun singular number when it expresses single person or thing we call noun plural number when it expresses more than one thing or person examples of singular numberin our daily life we refer nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verbs.
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