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raewon
Joined: 16 Jun 2009
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 Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:34 pm Post subject: Which sentence is correct mistake? |
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Which sentence is correct? [Choose one.]
1) He is not a teacher but a doctor.
2) I want to be a writer such like him.
3) Either he or you has to stay here.
The first sentence seems OK.
The second sentence is incorrect because of "such like".
The subject/verb agreement for "either ...or" is a singular verb, so I guess the third sentence is OK.
(1) or (3) should be incorrect. What stupid mistake am I missing this time?
Thanks. |
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moosehead
Joined: 05 May 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:13 pm Post subject: Re: Which sentence is correct mistake? |
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| raewon wrote: |
Which sentence is correct? [Choose one.]
1) He is not a teacher but a doctor.
2) I want to be a writer such like him.
3) Either he or you has to stay here.
The first sentence seems OK.
The second sentence is incorrect because of "such like".
The subject/verb agreement for "either ...or" is a singular verb, so I guess the third sentence is OK.
(1) or (3) should be incorrect. What stupid mistake am I missing this time?
Thanks. |
all of them pretty much stink to high heaven.
try:
1) He's a doctor not a teacher.
yours was too wordy, don't need "but;" also from a stylistic pov, it's preferable to state the positive in front of the negative, i.e., what he is before what he is not.
2) I want to be a writer like him.
leave out the "such"
3) Either you or he has to stay here.
again, this is giving a direction to someone, don't know the rule but I believe "you" should come in front of "he." also one would not want "you has" the way it was originally.
are these toeic qs? sounds like something they'd throw out there.  |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:16 pm Post subject: |
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You're forgetting that when using or in a compound subject, the verb must agree with only the element of the compound subject that's closest to the verb. So, sentence 3 would only be correct if it were phrased as:
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| Either he or you have to stay here. |
moosehead's correct about the position of the pronoun. The way my English teacher in grade school put it, "Give preference to the person you're addressing, then other people present, and finally list those absent." So, the best way to put that sentence is:
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| Either you or he has to stay here. |
Note the verb now agrees with he as that's the element of the subject closest to the verb. |
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