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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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 Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 9:16 pm Post subject: Subject-Verb agreement Grammar Question |
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Neither he nor I am at home today, are we?
Either he or she is here, aren�t they? |
Are the above correct? |
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Suwon23
Joined: 24 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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In the first sentence, "am" should be "is." Neither is always treated as singular third person. The use of "am" comes from our tendency to base agreement on the last word in a phrase, whether or not it's the true subject.
But I guess the real question is about switching to plural in the second part of each sentence. I think technically this would be a comma splice, so you might as well do it any way you want; it's already ungrammatical.
(I can't wait until "official" English grammar conforms with actual spoken practice) |
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friendoken
Joined: 19 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 9:01 am Post subject: Re: Subject-Verb agreement Grammar Question |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| Quote: |
Neither he nor I am at home today, are we?
We ain't home.
Either he or she is here, aren�t they? |
They're here.
Are the above correct? |
www.realspeak.org |
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