Grammar! The word itself makes some people’s eyes glaze over. Shades of elementary school make eyelids droop. But think about it: When you receive an email or document that contains grammar and punctuation errors, how does it affect your opinion of the sender? When I ask this question in the Worktalk writing trainings, people use words like, “incompetent, unprofessional, uneducated, careless…” The list goes on and on. When we disregard basic grammar, we risk undermining the good impression we have worked so hard to build.One grammar error that has cropped up in recent writing trainings is a lack of singular-plural agreement. Wait — don’t go to sleep yet. Disregarding this point can make you look ignorant. So take a look.
What is wrong with these sentences?
- Since our mid-year review there has been many changes that has happen in the XYZ department.
- An oversupply of foreign imports are flooding the market.
- If any portion of the expenses do, in fact, qualify as business expenses under IRC §162(a), what is the substantiation and documentation requirements that Client, as well as their employees and customers that will be attending the foreign cruise ship convention/seminar, would need in order to appropriately deduct these expenses?
Each sentence contains errors in singular-plural agreement. This principle is basic, yet many people stumble over it. In every sentence, the subject and predicate must both be either singular or plural. Having a singular subject and a plural verb, or vice versa, is a fundamental grammar error. Singular nouns need singular pronouns (he, she, it) as well. In most cases, people instinctively use the right verb for their subject. How is it that they sometimes go off-track?There Is/Are Structure Confuses Writers
In sentences containing there is/are, people often mistakenly assume that there is a subject. In fact, it simply states that something exists. In order to find the true grammatical subject, you need to invert the sentence; the subject usually follows the verb. So in the above case,
There has been many changes that has happen would become:
Many changes has happen
When you look at it this way, you see clearly that it should say
Many changes have happened.
Prepositional Phrases Mislead
During the Worktalk training programs, I advise participants to find the “essential sentence”, the subject and predicate, when editing. The first step in isolating subject and predicate is to mark out the prepositional phrases. You might recall that a preposition is “anywhere a rat can run” – about, above, in, to, at, by, or of. Phrases containing of are particularly irksome, as they often contain plural nouns. In the sentence:
An oversupply of foreign imports are flooding the market, we cross out “of foreign imports” because it is a prepositional phrase. This leaves us with:
An oversupply are flooding the market.
This is clearly incorrect. The correct sentence is
An oversupply of foreign imports is flooding the market.
Long Sentences Breed Grammar Errors
Singular-plural agreement errors often crop up when sentences are too long. The writer begins the sentence with a clear subject, but by the end of the sentence he has forgotten where he started. Keep your average sentence length below 20 words and you will be less likely to get confused. Now brace yourself: Here comes a 50-word challenge. Consider this doozy:
If any portion of the expenses do, in fact, qualify as business expenses under IRC §162(a), what is the substantiation and documentation requirements that Client, as well as their employees and customers that will be attending the foreign cruise ship convention/seminar, would need in order to appropriately deduct these expenses?
This sentence contains multiple errors in singular-plural agreement. Errors are capitalized below.
If any portion of the expenses DO, in fact, qualify as business expenses under IRC §162(a), what IS the substantiation and documentation requirements that Client, as well as THEIR employees and customers that will be attending the foreign cruise ship convention/seminar, would need in order to appropriately deduct these expenses?
Cross out OF THE EXPENSES. The subject of this sentence is portion. Note that Client is singular, and thus takes the pronoun its, not their. Corrections are capitalized below.
If any portion of the expenses DOES, in fact, qualify as business expenses under IRC §162(a), what ARE the substantiation and documentation requirements that Client, as well as ITS employees and customers that will be attending the foreign cruise ship convention/seminar, would need in order to appropriately deduct these expenses?
The person who wrote this sentence is highly educated. Once alerted to the errors, he knew immediately how to correct them. But in the confusion of dealing with a very long sentence, the stress of writing , and the rush that led him not to proofread carefully, he let these errors creep into a document that went to a client.
You can avoid errors in singular-plural agreement by avoiding the there is/are structure, being aware of prepositional phrases and, most importantly, by keeping your average sentence length short. The average number of words per sentence in this Writamin is 17.8, even allowing for the repetition of the 50-word behemoth above.
In the Worktalk writing trainings, we painlessly review some of the major ways people sabotage themselves by making careless grammar errors. Mismatching singulars and plurals is just one problem we address. We also learn about using punctuation marks, capitalizing correctly, and avoiding common confusions like its and it’s.
It’s tempting to think that grammar is for fuddy duddies. But grammatical rules form the backbone of language. When we break them too often, we may fail at the most fundamental task of writing: getting our message clearly into the mind of our reader. So remember your singular and plural word agreement. Your meaning may depend on them.
© 2014 Elizabeth Danziger All rights reserved
Tired of reading unclear, error-filled writing from your organization? Ready to transform the quality of your firm’s writing? Contact Elizabeth Danziger today to learn about the Worktalk Core Writing Trainings. Call (310) 396-8303 or write to lizd@worktalk.com.
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