CORRECTIONS & EXPLANATIONS - March 30, 2008

Here are the corrections and explanations for last week's postings.

Monday

Find and correct the errors in the following sentences.

"Leamington police Sgt. Mike Symons said the crash occurred at 9:17 p.m. in the 200 block of County Road 37, where a group of teens were standing in the rural area."

“Group”, the subject of the sentence, is singular, so the verb must also be singular.

"Leamington police Sgt. Mike Symons said the crash occurred at 9:17 p.m. in the 200 block of County Road 37, where a group of teens was standing in the rural area."


"None of their injuries are life-threatening, Symons said."

“None”, the subject, is singular, so the verb must also be singular.

"None of their injuries is life-threatening, Symons said."


Tuesday

RULE: SUBJECTS AND THEIR VERBS MUST AGREE!

If the subject is singular, the verb MUST be singular.

If the subject is plural, the verb MUST be plural.


Do the subjects and predicates agree in the following?

"Staff Sgt. Ed McNorton said earlier this month that the number of robberies so far this year have far outpaced the number up to this point last year."

No! They do not agree.
“Number” is singular, so the verb must also be singular.

"Staff Sgt. Ed McNorton said earlier this month that the number of robberies so far this year has far outpaced the number up to this point last year."


"A majority of those robberies, he said, were at convenience stores and committed by people looking for drug money."

The subject, “majority” is singular, so the verb must be singular.

"A majority of those robberies, he said, was at convenience stores and committed by people looking for drug money."


Wednesday

The VERB is the word that expresses the action of the clause or sentence.

The SUBJECT is the word that identifies the doer of the action.

The VERB and the SUBJECT must agree.

What is correct in the example below? Explain your choice.

The group of citizens (want/wants) to serve.

“Group” is a collective singular noun; therefore, the verb must also be singular.

The group of citizens wants to serve.


Thursday

HOW MANY?

Can you identify the writing gaffs in the following examples?
Hint: think "four", but think "sense".
Hint: there are no "typos" in the examples.
Sorry! I lied. There was a “typo”. If you didn’t catch it, too bad; I fixed it.
I do promise to be more diligent in my proofing.

"He's not one of those guys whose always there hooking, hooking and trying all the time."

Spellcheck will not detect misused words that are spelled correctly. “Whose” is spelled correctly but is an interrogative pronoun. The sense is “who is”.
Does the sentence even make sense? Is the guy a loser because he is never successful? Is he a street walker trying to make a buck? You fix it. I can’t.

"He's not one of those guys who is (or “who’s) always there hooking, hooking and trying all the time."


"The number of personal and business bankruptcies in Windsor and Essex County have shot up by 30 per cent over last year, a trend that is expected to get worse before it gets better, industry experts say."

Again, Spellcheck will not detect misused words that are spelled correctly.
The meaning is “30 percent” not “per ‘individual’ cent.

"The number of personal and business bankruptcies in Windsor and Essex County has shot up by 30 percent over last year, a trend that is expected to get worse before it gets better, industry experts say."


ENOUGH OF THIS SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT/DISAGREEMENT.
START GETTING IT RIGHT!


Friday

REAL/REALLY

“Real” is an adjective, a word that modifies a noun or a pronoun.
His fear is real. (“Real” describes or modifies “fear”.)

“Really” is an adverb that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. It cannot be used to modify a noun.

His fear is really real. (“Really” describes or modifies the adjective “real”.)
He really likes chocolate. (“Really” describes the verb “likes”.)
He really, really likes girls. (The first “really” describes the second “really”, an adverb. The second “really“ describes the verb “likes“.)


THIS WEEK'S QUOTE

"The best portion of a good man's life,
His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love."
William Wordsworth


THIS WEEK’S WORDS

“Extirpate" (v.) means to get rid of by destroying or to eradicate.

“Indolence" (n.) means laziness or lethargy.

“Lassitude" (n.) means torpor, sluggishness or lethargy.

“Disparagement" (n.) means disrespect or disapproval.

“Excoriate" (v.) means to condemn or decry.