Мира, 55а, госуниверситет
168
Изд-во
ОмГУ
Омск
2005
CHAPTER ONE
УДК 802.0
ББК 81.2Англ-2я73
Ф94
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
Рекомендовано к изданию редакционно-издательским советом ОмГУ
Рецензенты
О. <...> The indefinite pronouns anyone, everyone, someone, no one,
nobody are always singular and, therefore, require singular verbs.
• Everyone has done his or her homework.
• Somebody has left her purse. <...> Some indefinite pronouns – such as all, some – are singular or
plural depending on what they're referring to. (Is the thing referred to
countable or not?) Be careful choosing a verb to accompany such pronouns.
• Some of the beads are missing.
• Some of the water is gone. <...> On the other hand, there is one indefinite pronoun, none, that
can be either singular or plural; it often doesn't matter whether you use
a singular or a plural verb – unless something else in the sentence determines its number. (Writers generally think of none as meaning not
any and will choose a plural verb, as in "None of the engines are working," but when something else makes us regard none as meaning not
one, we want a singular verb, as in "None of the food is fresh.")
• None of you claims responsibility for this incident?
• None of you claim responsibility for this incident?
• None of the students have done their homework. (In this last
example, the word their precludes the use of the singular verb.
2. <...> Some indefinite pronouns are particularly troublesome Everyone and everybody (listed above, also) certainly feel like more than
one person and, therefore, students are sometimes tempted to use a plural verb with them. <...> Each is often
followed by a prepositional phrase ending in a plural word (Each of the
cars), thus confusing the verb choice. <...> Everyone has finished his or her homework.
3
You would always say, "Everybody is here." This means that the
word is singular and nothing will change that. <...> With these constructions (called expletive constructions), the
subject follows the verb but still determines the number of the verb.
3. <...> The phrase introduced by as well <...>