5 Errors in Noun-Verb Agreement

5 Errors in Noun-Verb Agreement 5 Errors in Noun-Verb Agreement 5 Errors in Noun-Verb Agreement By Mark Nichol As shown in the examples below, when writers craft sentences with more than one noun or pronoun in the subject, they sometimes misidentify the key noun or pronoun and assign the wrong verb form to it. Discussion and revision in each sentence describes and solves the problem. 1. â€Å"Five days are too short for a vacation.† The singular form of the verb â€Å"to be,† rather than the plural form, is appropriate here because of the context- the writer is referring to a collective unit of time consisting of five days, not to five units of time consisting of a day each: â€Å"Five days is too short for a vacation.† 2. Which of the following statements best describe your situation? The verb in this sentence refers not to statements but to one of several statements- represented by the pronoun which- each of which is, in turn, being contemplated on its own, so the verb form should be singular: â€Å"Which of the following statements best describes your situation?† 3. Each of the top five priorities identified this year are technology related.   Just as in the previous example, the first word in this sentence is a place-holder representing one priority. The five priorities are being considered in isolation, one at a time, so a singular verb is appropriate: â€Å"Each of the top five priorities identified this year is technology related.† 4. We believe that a diversity among people and perspectives create high-performing organizations. Diversity, not the combination of â€Å"people and perspectives,† is the operative noun here, so the verb form should be singular: â€Å"We believe that a diversity among people and perspectives creates high-performing organizations.† 5. A combination of these factors, along with a number of wider digital transformation and economic trends, have focused attention on regulatory technology as a topic. Combination, not factors, is the noun that the helping verb is associated with (and the parenthetical phrase located between factors and the verb is irrelevant to the verb form): â€Å"A combination of these factors, along with a number of wider digital transformation and economic trends, has focused attention on regulatory technology as a topic.† Some people may disagree, arguing that combination, like descriptive words such as couple, majority, and variety, calls for notional agreement (or notional concord), in which plural nouns that modifying phrases that include collective nouns are associated with, rather than the collective nouns themselves, are considered the â€Å"target† of the verb. However, usage strongly favors singular concord, in which the verb concords, or agrees, with the collective noun (the â€Å"notion†). Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Idioms About TalkingDeck the HallsUses of the Past Participle

Never Overlook the Arc

Never Overlook the Arc Never Overlook the Arc Never Overlook the Arc By Guest Author This is a guest post by Vic Shayne. If you want to write for Daily Writing Tips check the guidelines here. There are many elements that are key to creating a good story, and the arc is one of the most important of all. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about fiction, nonfiction, a fantasy story, documentary or screenplay. I could say that even Noah knew the importance of an ark, but homonyms lose their charm in writing. What is an arc? In the world of physics, an arc is a curve. In writing we can explain it in similar terms - it’s the path that a story and its characters follow, from their introduction to their finale. It starts here and ends there, so to speak. I’ve seen a lot of people’s writing that completely misses this fundamental element, and they wonder why their work is flat or unsalable. If they set their egos aside, they can learn from their mistakes. If not, they go on chalking up their failures to stupid editors or readers who just don’t get their genius. To make sure your work is rich, plan your arcs from the outset. Before you sit down to write your story, make an outline that includes an arc for the story and all its characters. Figure out how your story begins and how it ends, including all the changes in points in between. Figure out how your characters act at first compared to how they act when your work comes to a conclusion. If they do not exhibit change or growth, then something’s wrong and your work will lack dramatic interest. This is true of a silly comedy, a farce, a musical, a slice of life story, a science fiction work and a tear-jerking drama. Everything has to keep moving in a direction that exhibits change. They say if a shark stops moving, it dies. Don’t let your writing go belly up. Let’s get more specific. Take a look at your own life as an example. Your life, like everybody else’s has an overall arc with a series of events in between. You started off as a baby, moved through childhood and got to where you are now. You’ve changed, changed some more and changed again so that you are not the same person you were in the beginning. Your life story has an arc. At this present moment, you have accumulated wisdom. You have experienced sorrow, happiness, hard work and moments of reprieve - all of which are evidence of your arc. Remember too that in addition to an overall story arc, there are also many in between arcs that need to be written. Each chapter needs to have an arc in which something is accomplished, ruined, created, thwarted, grown, deconstructed and/or abandoned. Only by creating these chapter or scene arcs is your audience or reader compelled to move to the next event. Many movies suffer from an absence of arcs and even uninformed audiences will complain that the film they just watched â€Å"didn’t go anywhere,† even if they can’t articulate the exact source of the flaw. I have a friend, John, who goes to the movies on a regular basis. John has little patience. If there’s nothing that compels him to watch what happens after the first ten minutes, he leaves the theater. He considers sitting any longer in his seat a waste of his valuable time. Worse, John is angry at the writer and director for taking advantage of him and robbing him for an unfulfilled promise. John’s a tough critic, but to me he’s a reminder of the importance of giving your readers something to look forward to from scene to scene and chapter to chapter until, by the end of the affair, you’ve taken them through a journey. This â€Å"something† depends on well-crafted arcs. Vic Shaynes latest book, Remember Us, just hit the bookstores nationwide. Vic has been a professional writer since 1978, with six books and more than 500 articles over his career, as well as screenplays, stage plays and commercial work. To learn more about him and his work, you can visit his website. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Exquisite AdjectivesUsed To vs. Use ToPeople vs. Persons