ENTC 3030

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ENTC 3030

• AGREEMENT

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Agreement Worksheet

• Agreement is essentially a matching strategy
• subjects and verbs express the same number
• pronouns and their antecedents match in number
  and gender.

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• While this sounds simple enough, English has, as
  usual, enough strange forms to make the task
  challenging.
• The key idea in all cases is to think about your
  meaning rather than merely following rules.

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Subject/Verb Agreement

1. Discount inverted sentence structure and
   intervening phrases, prepositional and otherwise.

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• Most opposed to wolf reintroduction and
  let-it-burn forest fire policy is the ranching
  population.
• The skull structure of the salamanders is
  intriguing.
• There are long-term problems with radioactive
  waste disposal.

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• "And" usually creates plural subjects, but other
  additive phrases don't
• as well as,
• accompanied by,
• in addition to,
• etc.

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• The aspen as well as other common trees doesn't
  grow well in cities.
• The aspen and other common trees don't grow well
  here.

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• Note When "and" joins two attributes of the same
  unit, the subject remains singular
• The chief researcher and lab technician is too
  busy to see you.

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• "Every" and "each" usually are singular.
• Every student, teacher, and administrator has an
  interest in the university.
• Each workstation and each computer has its own
  hook-up.

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• Paired conjunctions--either/or, neither/nor--that
  join singular subjects usually leave the subjects
  singular.
• Either NSF or NIH is a good choice for funding.
• Neither rain nor mist permeates drought-hardened
  ground.
• Revision or destruction helps writing to improve.

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• If one subject is singular and one is plural, the
  one nearer the verb controls its number.
• Neither the flasks nor the beaker was clean.
• Neither the beaker nor the flasks were clean.

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• Words that focus on sorting out individuals
• each,
• either,
• neither,
• one

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• or denoting a general case
• everyone,
• everybody,
• anyone

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• usually take singular verbs when they are
  subjects.
• Each of them has sufficient training.
• Everyone wants to do field work.
• Neither likes to wash glassware.

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• Collective nouns are singular when they denote
  the group as a whole and plural when they denote
  the individuals in the group.

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• A number were able to finish the experiment in
  time.
• A group of technicians is radioactively
  contaminated.
• A majority is needed for this vote.
• A majority of people are going to go.
• Statistics are inconclusive, so they can be
  distorted.
• Ironically, statistics is an imprecise subject.

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Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement

• Pronouns have the same number and gender as their
  antecedents
• the tricky part is determining the correct
  antecedent.

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• Many of the ideas noted before apply to pronoun
  relationships too
• Each of the laboratories is accountable for its
  work.
• Everybody has the right to wear protective masks
  when they work with noxious chemicals.
• Neither the rat nor the mice show signs of stress
  in their brain-wave responses.
• Neither the mice nor the rat shows signs of
  stress in its brain-wave responses.

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• Relative pronouns too have the same number as
  their antecedents.

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• Tigers which are becoming extinct in some areas
  of India are endangered by vegetation destruction
  rather than hunting.
• It is the wildcats that are often blamed for
  attacks perpetrated by other animals.
• The one-and-only-one rule states that if all of a
  group are acting, plural is used, but if only one
  acts, the singular is used.

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• He is one of the scientists who are radioactive.
• He is the only one of the scientists who is
  radioactive.
• This procedure is the only one that is
  repeatable.

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Homework Choose the right answer and explain!

1. The equipment and the glassware showed (its,
   their) age.
2. Either the crystals or the powder must have lost
   (its, their) potency.
3. Neither the technicians nor the lab assistant
   (was, were) willing to change (his, their)
   attitude.

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1. The board of editors (make, makes) (its, their)
   report.
2. My estimates of significance (differ, differs)
   from yours.
3. The administrator and scientist (is, are)
   developing a new plan.
4. Blue and red (is, are) useful in staining
   specimens.

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• She is the only one of all the scientists who
  (lack, lacks) training.
• Every one of the figures (was, were) checked
  twice.
• Good planning plus favorable funding conditions
  (was, were) responsible for the improvement.

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• The inventory (was, were) flasks of several
  sizes.
• Each of these specimens had (its, their) limbs
  dissected.
• The group of researchers (does, do) not agree on
  methods, but (it, they) (unites, unite) on
  issues.