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400 400 THOMAS
Learning English with Thomas
2023.03.12
How much do you know about “subject-verb agreement”?
主謂一致知多少?
Basic principle of subject-verb agreement 注意英文文法「主謂一致」(subject-verb agreement)的基本原則   T: Thomas   L: Lawrence   T: Hi Lawrence! Are you OK? You do look troubled. L: See … This sign reads: “No conveyance of goods on passenger lifts are allowed”. I felt there’s something wrong with this sign, and yet I can’t tell where the mistake is made?   T: It’s basically subject-verb agreement. The mistake is caused by mistaking the plural form of part of the subject, and not the basic part of the subject to be the subject. The subject of this sentence is “conveyance of goods on passenger lifts” and it is in the singular, as the word “conveyance” is singular in number. L: This is an area I never get clear about.   T: The mistake is caused by taking the last phrase “passenger lifts” as the determining part of the subject, and as this is in the plural, so the writer puts in a plural verb, for “conveyance”, which is a singular noun. Mistakes like these are made over and over again by students writing sentences beginning with “One of the reasons are that ……”; “One of them/us” have been invited”, and so on. All these are examples of mistakes in subject-verb agreement. L: From now on I will avoid making mistakes in this area.     T: 嗨 Lawrence!你還好嗎?你看起來很困擾。 L: 看……這告示寫著:「不允許在乘客升降機上落貨」。我覺得這告示有些不妥當的地方,不過說不出它錯在哪裡?   T: 這是「主謂不一致」問題。該錯誤是將主語部分的複數形式誤認為是主語,其實它不是主語的基本部分。這句子的主語是在乘客升降機上落貨,在英文文法上屬單數,因為「conveyance」這英文字在數量上是單數。 L: 這是我一直弄不清的地方。   T: 錯誤在於作者誤把最後的詞語「乘客升降機」視為主語的決定性部分,由於這個詞語是複數形式,所以作者用了複數動詞去搭配單數名詞「落貨」。這是學生英文寫作時經常重犯的錯誤, 比如「One of the reasons are that ……」;「One of them╱us」have been invited等等,都是「主謂不一致」的例子。 L: 今後我會盡量避免出現這方面的錯誤了。